Royal Léopold eventually saw off the challenge of Post SV 3-1 to reach the FINAL8 of the Euro Hockey League.
Tom Boon had seemingly set them on their way in the fifth minute with a penalty corner push that found the right angle to hit the bottom corner.
But any sense they would wipe away the Austrian side’s challenge was quickly dispelled as they broke forward to win a corner of their own and, with a neat switch to Maximilian Scholz, they were back at 1-1.
It stayed that way through the second quarter as Post fought throughout while Léo were frustrated to see a couple of Boon corner shots hit the post.
And the Viennese side grew in confidence. First, Henri Matzenauer went within centimetres of putting his side in front as he wheeled away to the right of goal. Yannick Matousek then won another corner but Boon charged it down and, from the ensuing attack, Léo were back in front.
It was a rocket of a shot from Corentin De Trez who was quickest to spot the loose ball following an initial near post block from Jakob Kastner which went out to the top of the circle.
Arthur Vedussen slid onto a clever deflection move to spin the lead out to 3-1 with 12 minutes to go and that was enough to see the Belgian side advance to next Easter’s FINAL8.
