Goalball UK are safely through to the quarter finals of the IBSA European championships with a win over Slovenia and a draw against Spain.

With qualification already assured going into the final group B match, GB kept their momentum going against Spain with a 6-6 draw after their earlier exploits.

The Spaniards took the lead inside five minutes, but two strikes from David Roper gave GB a 2-1 lead. However, their opponents hit back and scored three goals in quick succession to go in front.

But GB came back as Filmon Eyassu and Roper equalised, before Spain scored on the stroke of half time to nudge ahead 5-4 at the break.

It took a while to find their rhythm after the restart, but goals started flowing with four minutes remaining as GB took a 6-5 lead before Spain struck back again.

Both sides went all out late on, but Spain managed to hold on to tie the match 6-6.

In GB’s first game of the day, they responded to a stirring Slovenia fightback in perfect style by netting the winning goal in the dying seconds to triumph 9-8.

GB had raced into a 5-0 lead in the first half with consistently accurately throwing, although their opponents got on the board just before half-time to close the gap to 5-1.

The second period looked set to continue in a similar fashion as GB moved five goals ahead once more with just under ten minutes to go, before the game completely turned on its head.

Slovenia fought back furiously, closing to 7-6 and then 8-7 with a series of goals in quick succession and then levelled for the first time at 8-8 with a little less than 90 seconds remaining.

However, GB regained their composure and accurately bounced the ball over the Slovenian goalkeepers into the bottom left-hand corner with 14 seconds remaining to secure a dramatic 9-8 win.

Sportsbeat 2018

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