EHA National Cup Semi Final

Ruislip Eagles 29

London GD seconds 26

RUISLIP Eagles will appear in their third EHA National Cup final in four years after beating London GD seconds on Sunday.

Eagles produced a second-half fightback against their rivals to take the match 29-26 and book their place in the showpiece event at Crystal Palace in June.

“Defeat was never an option but they made us work hard until the end of the game,” said Fabien Colette, who has played in all three of Eagles’ recent finals.

“Credit to LGD seconds’ performance, but what a delight to reach the cup final once more with the Eagles.”

LGD were dominant in the first period and an injury to influential playmaker Akos Weress early in the game did the Eagles no favours, with the returning Max Rebelle stepping to fill the void.

Three goals down at the interval, Ruislip knew they had to work much harder in the second-half and use all of their experience in order to progress.

But they were dealt a massive blow 30 seconds after the restart when Fredrik Charpentier received a direct red card to pile on the pressure and stack the odds further in favour of London.

Ruislip regrouped and hauled themselves level at 21-21 as the game entered the last 10 minutes at the Leyton Score Centre.

It was crunch time and the experience of the Eagles squad was starting to show, with Amer Altimimi’s troops taking a decisive three-goal lead and never looked back on the road to victory.

Ruislip goalscorers were Michael Vitello (eight), Denis Werner (six), Joszef Csontos (five), David Sedlacek (four), Maxime Rebelle (two), Bjoern Tessmann, Marc Fayemi, Weress and Lucas Carstens. The other players were Charpentier, Colette, Hadrien Pollino and Stefan Lodziak.