Russia scrape past Poland 3-2 to finish second in Pool A

Russia put up an impressive performance to eke out a 3-2 win over Poland and finish their Pool A engagements in the second spot at the FIH Series Finals hockey tournament here Sunday.

Russia, who lost 0-10 to India in their tournament opener, got their act together after the drubbing and routed Uzbekistan 12-1 before recording a fighting win over Poland, who are ranked one place above them at 21st.

Pavel Golubev (17th, 59th) scored a brace for Russia, while Semen Matkovskiy (57th) was the other goal getter for the winners.

Poland's goals came from the sticks of Mateusz Hulboj (28th) and Pawe Bratkowski (45th).

Russia finished second in Pool A with six points from two wins, while Poland are third with just a victory.

Both Russia and Poland are virtually through to the cross-overs unless Uzbekistan cause a major upset against India on Monday and that too by a huge margin.