Austria and Poland both frustrated in Pool C draw

Men’s Pool C
Austria 1 Poland 1 (1-0)

Austria and Poland shared the spoils in the opening game of the men’s Pool C at the Rabo EuroHockey Championships, goals from Michael Korper and Adrian Krokosz cancelling each other out.

For both teams, it was a disappointing with both looking to build points ahead of their final matches on Sunday in a bid to avoid relegation.

Austrian player of the match Florian Steyrer said: “We couldn’t find our level today. We mis-stopped so many balls and had no control of the game. It was like ping-pong and that is not we are prepared for.”

Poland’s Dominik Kotulski had similar feelings: “We are disappointed; we were really close to winning the game but it was just details and we didn’t score that key goal for 2-1. All the team is disappointed.

It was a well-matched battle with both sides showing a hunger for the contest, knowing a defeat would likely spell the end of their hopes of staying in the European top tier.

Both sides had corner chances in the first half but it was Austria who took the lead when Michael Korper slung home his third goal of the tournament, a heavily deflected drag-flick.

Poland, though, fought back in the second half, creating plenty of openings and they got level when Adrian Krokosz turned sharply in the circle to crash into the goal in the 44th minute.

From there, both goalkeepers made some fine saves with Maciej Pacanowski brilliantly intercepting at the feet of Fabian Unterkircher while Mateusz Szymczyk kept out a Polish corner. Korper came within inches of nicking a winner but both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Steyrer is hopeful his side can take some of the positives from earlier in the tournament.

“There has been some really good moments for us. The 2-2 draw with Spain was really great game but there’s a lot of work to do. Ireland in two days, we have nothing to lose. We will put our heart on the field and do everything we can.”

Krokosz, meanwhile, said his side will keep battling until the end: “The tournament is still ongoing for us so the Spain game is the most important one for us and we are really focused for that one.”

Austria – Poland
30’ Michael Korper 1-0
44’ Adrian Krokosz 1-1

Umpires: S Michielsen (BEL), M Madden (SCO)

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