UKRAINE 15 ISRAEL 6

Ukraine moved into second place in Group B behind France with their third victory on Day Three of the LEN European Nations Trophy.

Sergiy Pantyukov scored four goals as Ukraine’s superior physical play overpowered Israel, while Volodymyr Voytenko and Yevgen Obedinskyy each scored three.

Ukraine’s Tymur Shylin broke the deadlock with 3:25 left of the first period. But Israel’s Or Keren hit back 25 seconds later. Ukraine scored again when Israel captain Amit Seker was excluded and Roman Olefirenko scored. But Or Keren replied once more following Olefirenko’s sending out to tie the quarter.

Ukraine dominated the second period, with Obedinskyy scoring early on from an extra-man opportunity. Or Keren replied when Olefirenko was given his second personal foul to tie the scores once more. But Ukraine scored three further goals in the quarter. Pantyukov scored, then Voytenko found the back of the net when Seker was excluded again, and Voytenko completed the scoring with 17.8 seconds left of the half remaining.

Seker received his third exclusion just over a minute into the second half to put his team under further pressure, and Pantyukov scored his second of the game from the resulting 6-on-5. Or Keren scored his fourth – and Israel’s fourth, but Shylin got another one for Ukraine.

Olefirenko’s game ended when he received his third major, but Israel failed to take advantage. Pantyukov scored again before Dolev Koifman scored. But Obedinskyy added a goal on the break to regain a five-goal lead. Voytenko completed his hat-trick to propel Ukraine into a six-goal lead ahead of the final quarter.

Or Keren was excluded and – after a time-out – Pantyukov scored his fourth of the game, before Ofir Golombek pulled one back for Israel. Kostyantyn Shevchenko conceded a penalty, which was taken by Maoz Gaver and tipped onto the post by goalkeeper Petro Radivilov. Serhiy Grishyn, Vadym Kozlov and Igor Piperko completed the rout with successive goals.

Result: 15-6 (2-2; 4-1; 5-2; 4-1)

Ukraine: 1 Denys Volonchuk, 2 Kostyantyn Shevchenko (Capt), 3 Tymur Shylin (1 goal), 4 Vadym Kozlov (1), 5 Volodymyr Voytenko (3), 6 Roman Olefirenko (1), 7 Denys Kolesnikov, 8 Vladyslav Soslovskiy, 9 Sergiy Pantyukov (4), 10 Yevgen Obedinskyy (3), 11 Igor Piperko (1), 12 Serhiy Grishyn (1), 13 Petro Radivilov

Israel: 1 Itamar Inbar, 2 Shy Hemed, 3 Ofir Golombek (1 goal), 4 Navot Luria, 5 Maoz Gaver, 6 Or Keren (4), 7 Gil Lunliner, 8 Amit Seker (Capt), 9 Ayal Keren, 10 Ori Raz, 11 Dolev Koifman (1), 12 Itamar Schwartz, 13 Alex Malkis

GREAT BRITAIN 20 IRELAND 5

Great Britain returned to winning ways with victory over Ireland on Day Three of the LEN European Nations Trophy at Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Tom Curwen scored seven to take his tally for the competition to 17 – moving second in the tournament’s goalscoring charts behind France captain Frederic Audon, who has 22 – while captain Craig Figes and Mark Banwell, who both grabbed four, also excelled for the host nation.

Curwen opened the scoring with a penalty before Adam Scholefield grabbed a second and Figes a third to leave Ireland reeling.

Curwen scored his second from the left wing when Stephen Murphy was excluded. Mark Banwell (two) and Andrew Squires completed the scoring for the quarter.

Goalkeeper Ed Scott saved well from Ireland’s Darren McHugh and gathered the ball before releasing Curwen on the fast break and he drove towards goal before lobbing Christopher Hodgkinson to complete his hat-trick. Scholefield scored his second before Patrick Lowery opened the Irish account.

Curwen took Britain into double figures with 1:13 remaining in the half after Kevin Thornton was excluded and left-hander Alex Parsonage scored a last-ditch shot from the right wing.

Figes scored twice in the third, with Rob Parker and Curwen, with a penalty, also scoring. Michael Kelleher replied for Ireland.

Ireland scored twice at the start of the final period through Jonathan Donnelly and Darren McHugh. But Kelleher received his third personal foul to rule him out of the remainder of the game and Curwen scored his sixth from the resulting 6-on-5.

Banwell completed his hat-trick, before Curwen scored again. Graham Fogarty scored after a pass the length of the pool from Hodgkinson, but then Banwell got his fourth and Figes added his fourth and Britain’s 20th with 50 seconds left to complete the scoring.

Result: 20-5 (7-0; 4-1; 4-1; 5-3)

Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder, 3 Mark Banwell (4 goals), 4 Scott Carpenter, 5 Craig Figes (Capt, 4), 6 Andrew Squires (1), 7 Alex Parsonage (1), 8 Tom Curwen (7), 9 Rob Parker (1), 10 Adam Scholefield (2), 11 Chris Gilbertson, 12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch

Ireland:  1 Christopher Hodgkinson (Capt), 2 Alan Fogarty, 3 Eoin Nolan, 4 Kevin Thornton, 5 Graham Fogarty (1 goal), 6 Patrick Lowery (1), 7 Darren McHugh (1), 8 Jonathan Donnelly (1), 9 Ciaran Walshe, 10 Jonathan Kirk, 11 Michael Kelleher (1), 12 Stephen Murphy, 13 Eoin Doyle

BELARUS 20 MALTA 1

A dominant Belarus moved into third place in Group A with their first win of the competition.

They leap-frogged Malta with an emphatic display, which included 14 consecutive scores and a second-half shut out.

Belarus won the first and second quarters comfortably, before rampaging through Malta in the third, winning 8-0. Vladimir Basic claimed seven goals

Basic got a hat-trick of goals in the first period, the first coming when Steve Camilleri was sent out. Alexcei Zalugnyi added the fourth.

Exclusions continued to flow and Belarus’ 6-on-5 continued to function better than Malta’s, with Ivan Kulakov extending the lead to five early in the second period. Basic received his second personal foul, but Malta failed once more in the man-up, while Belarus converted a 6-on-5 at the other end through captain Dzmitry Vankevich.

Camilleri pulled one back with 4:40 left until the interval, but it did not mark a resurgence and Belarus scored twice more through Siarhei Fralou and Vankevich. Malta’s Camilleri also had a penalty saved onto the post by Mikhail Yazerski.

Armenaic Elizbaran opened the second-half scoring, before a penalty was awarded against Clint Mercieca and converted by Fralou. Basic grabbed his fourth and fifth in quick succession, before Vankevich completed his hat-trick. Fralou also added his third. Aliaksandr Andrayuk and Aliaksandr Navumenka then each scored on the fast break to take Belarus’ tally to 16.

Fralou struck on the fast break for his fourth of the game early in the fourth. Basic lobbed Ian Bugeja for his sixth of the match and scored from a man-up for his seventh and Belarus’ 19th. Andrayuk grabbed a second to complete the scoring.

Result: 20-1 (4-0; 4-1; 8-0; 4-0)

Belarus: 1. Mikhail Yazerski, 2 Ivan Kulakov (1 goal), 3 Aliaksandr Andrayuk (2), 4 Dzmitry Kulik, 5 Alexcei Zalugnyi (1), 6 Armenaic Elizbaran (1), 7 Aliaksandr Navumenka (1), 8 Dzmitry Vankevich (3), 9 Siarhei Fralou (4), 10 Aleksey Kuzmenko, 11 Uladzimir Martyniuk, 12 Vladimir Basic (7), 13 Kanstantsin Kavaleuski

Malta: 1 Josie Cachia, 2 Niki Lanzon, 3 Paul Fava, 4 Paul Privitera (Capt), 5 Mark Meli, 6 John Soler, 7 Steve Camilleri (1 goal), 8 Jurgen Borg, 9 Karl Montfort, 10 Matthew Zammit, 11 Clint Mercieca, 12 Michele Stellini, 13 Ian Bugeja

POLAND 2 FRANCE 13

France captain Frederic Audon continued his prolific form as France defeated Poland to remain top of Group B. He took his personal tally for the tournament to 22 with six goals in the match.

Audon scored twice in the first quarter, firstly after Marek Debski was excluded and, secondly, when he was fouled by Robert Sekula and a penalty was awarded. A Mickael Bodegas goal completed the scoring for the period, while Sekula received a second personal foul for an incident with Romain Blary, who was also sent out.

Audon completed his hat-trick with his second penalty of the match after Wojciech Leszek had fouled centre forward Bodegas. And the France captain scored again with a lob. Poland’s Marcin Scierwicki was excluded and Remi Saudadier was wrapped for retaliation, becoming the second France player to be dismissed for the match following the earlier offence by Marc Amardeilh, who showed gross dissent.

Blary then demonstrated his power to score from the centre forward position, and he scored his second when Debski was sent out to make it 7-0.

Bodegas won another penalty at the start of the third which Audon again converted for his fifth of the match. Sekula received his third exclusion to end his participation in the match before Yann Clay scored on the fast break. Blary was fouled as centre defender Rafal Wocik conceded his second penalty of the quarter but Audon hit the bar attempting to lob Michal Diakonow.

Debski received his third personal foul for a challenge on Bodegas and Clay scored his second of the game to open the fourth quarter. And Clay set up Blary for his hat-trick after Adam Perka was excluded. Jean Baptiste Favry grabbed his first. Leszek became the third Poland player – the fifth of the game – to be wrapped before Audon scored an audacious attempt from 10 metres out, after concealing the ball under water.

France’s defence held firm and Soufien Riabi repelled everything Poland could throw at him, until, with 1:21 remaining Piotr Wojcik scored after Favry was excluded. Tomasz Rozycki then scored with 11.8 seconds left.

Result: 2-13 (0-3; 0-4; 0-2; 2-4)

Poland: 1 Michal Diakonow (Capt), 2 Marcin Scierwicki, 3 Piotr Michalski, 4 Adam Perka, 5 Marek Debski, 6 Pawel Ulchurski, 7 Tomasz Rozycki (1 goal), 8 Michal Bar, 9 Radoslaw Haraczko, 10 Robert Sekula, 11 Piotr Wojcik (1), 12 Wojciech Leszek, 13 Rafal Wocik

France: 1 Jonathan Moriame, 2 Romain Blary (3 goals), 3 Arnaud Jablonski, 4 Frederic Audon (Capt, 6), 5 Yann Vergeade, 6 Remi Saudadier, 7 Mickael Bodegas (1), 8 Jean Baptiste Favry (1), 9 Yann Vernoux, 10 Yann Clay (2), 11 Marc Amardeilh, 12 Quentin Chipotel, 13 Soufien Riabi

BELGIUM 6 MONTENEGRO 28

Montenegro overcame a first-quarter surprise from Belgium to move to the top of Group A with an unblemished record.

Belgium performed valiantly in the opening 10 minutes and were 6-4 down, but the tournament favourites have five players who were members of the Serbia and Montenegro side which won gold at the FINA World Championships in Montreal in 2005 – Boris Zlokovic, who earns a reported 100,000 Euros a year at Italian club Posillipo, goalkeeper Zdavko Radic, Nikola Janovic, Predrag Jokic and Vladimir Gojkovic.

Their experience told as they won the second quarter by 10 goals to one and the third 8-0, before a 6-2 win in the fourth as only goalkeepers Radic and Milos Scepanovic failed to register on the score-sheet.

Belgium went behind inside 13 seconds to Mladan Janovic’s goal. But they claimed a surprise equaliser through Kevin Chavepeyer before Aleksandar Ivovic hit back straight away. Montenegro extended their lead through Mladan Janovic’s second, but Belgium scored two goals through captain Tom Van Oost and Ken De Wilde to level again. Montenegro took the quarter though, when Stefen Van Tieghem received his second exclusion and Jokic scored with 3.4 seconds left.

Drasko Brguljan and Vjekoslav Paskovic extended the lead to three at the start of the second quarter, but Van Oost claimed his second from a man-up. Montenegro then upped a gear, scoring eight times through Zlokovic (two), Ivovic, Brguljan, Gojkovic and Nikola Janovic, who claimed three in the final minute of the period.

Ivovic completed his hat-trick 45 seconds into the second half, and Mladan Janovic’s third followed 45 seconds later. Ivovic and Mladan Janovic each got a fourth before Van Tieghem fouled Zlokovic for a penalty and his third personal foul, but Jokic fumbled the penalty. Damjan DaniLovic got his first goal of the game and Paskovic claimed Montenegro’s 20th of the match. Brguljan and Mladan Janovic, with a penalty, completed the scoring for the quarter.

Veljko Uskokovic put his name on the score-sheet less than 30 seconds into the fourth, and Gojkovic and Milan Ticic added scores. Belgium’s Samuel Gomez won a penalty, but Van Oost saw his shot hit the post. A run of 19 consecutive goals for Montenegro ended when Chavepeyer scored his second of the game. Nikola Janovic got his fourth, but Michael De Boever got his first and Belgium’s sixth on the fast break. Zlokovic completed his hat-trick with 1:22 remaining. Jokic completed the scoring.

Result: 6-28 (3-4; 1-10; 0-8; 2-6)

Belgium: 1 Pieter Van Snick, 2 Stefen Van Tieghem, 3 Kevin Chavepeyer (2 goals), 4 Thomas Delorge, 5 Niels Verhegge, 6 Ken De Wilde (1), 7 Samuel Gomez, 8 Michael De Boever (1), 9 Cedric Grammens, 10 Tom Van Oost (2), 11 Sammy Claes, 12 Niels Vanderlinden, 13 Michael Callens

Montenegro: 1 Zdavko Radic, 2 Drasko Brguljan (3 goals), 3 Vjekoslav Paskovic (2), 4 Damjan DaniLovic (1), 5 Nikola Janovic (4), 6 Milan Ticic (1), 7 Mladan Janovic (5), 8 Veljko Uskokovic (1), 9 Aleksandar Ivovic (4), 10 Boris Zlokovic (3), 11 Vladimir Gojkovic (2), 12 Predrag Jokic (2), 13 Milos Scepanovic

TURKEY 3 MACEDONIA 9

Turkey and Macedonia shared a thrilling tussle in the opening game of Day Three of the LEN European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Turkey's failure to take their chances ultimately cost them as Macedonia emerged victorious with Ivan Vuksanovic and Marko Micic each scoring three times in the contest.

Four first-quarter minutes passed before Turkey’s captain Halil Beskardesuer broke the deadlock after Micic was excluded. Macedonia immediately replied at the other end when Ruso Yakimouig was sent out and Marko Basic scored off the right-hand post. Macedonia took the slimmest of leads when Micic got on the end of a fast break to shoot beyond Atila Sezer.

Macedonia claimed two further goals in the second period. Captain Saso Popovski opened his account from the left wing before Basic received his second exclusion of the game. Emre Coskun was then excluded, allowing Vuksanovic to score from the resulting 6-on-5.

Beskardesuer pulled a goal back before Turkey came within a goal of Macedonia with a well-worked extra-man goal from Coskun after Risto Maljkovic was excluded. In a tense finale to the period Sezai Kiziltan received his third major and Micic converted the man-up with 9.3 seconds remaining to restore a two-goal lead.

Basic received his third personal foul before Beskardesuer was sent out at the other end and Macedonia called a time-out and Vladimir Kreckovic scored to extend their lead to three. Nenad Petrovic was excluded for tussling with the centre defender and Turkey opted to use their second time out with 5:05 remaining. But they could not convert – and failed to score in the final period. Macedonia moved to the other end where they won a penalty, which was converted by Micic.

Aytag Yegin was excluded with 2:29 to go and Macedonia used their second and final time-out. Vuksanovic scored his second of the game to extend the gap to five before he scored his second of the period and his team’s fourth to complete the win.

Result: 3-9 (1-2; 0-2; 2-1; 0-4)

Turkey: 1 Atila Sezer, 2 Ali Can Gagatay, 3 Omer Yaman, 4 Anil Sonmez, 5 Ruso Yakimouig, 6 Hakan Hatipoglu, 7 Sezai Kiziltan, 8 Berk Gunkut, 9 Aytag Yegin, 10 Emre Coskun (1 goal), 11 Halil Beskardesuer (Capt, 2), 12 Can Guven, 13 Tan Diptas

Macedonia: 1 Milos Urosevic, 2 Sava Isakovski, 3 Ivan Vuksanovic (3 goals), 4 Risto Maljkovic, 5 Nenad Ivanovski, 6 Saso Popovski (Capt, 1), 7 Marko Micic (3), 8 Vladimir Kreckovic (1), 9 Nenad Petrovic, 10 Marko Basic (1), 11 Radislav Kocovski, 12 Bobi Kuzmanovski, 13 Darko Stosic