HOCKEY/European Trophy Championship/Ireland 4 Russia 1: The hottest day of the tournament so far finally delivered to Ireland what they had wanted from this Rome tournament.

With a 4-1 win over Russia at the Roma club in 30-degree sunshine yesterday, Ireland topped their pool A and comfortably moved into the most important phase of the competition, the classification stages.

The match also marked a milestone for the most prolific goalscorer in Irish hockey, Stephen Butler.

The midfield playmaker's hat-trick yesterday brought him to his 50th international goal, the first time any player has achieved that number, although Justin Sherriff on 45 is not far behind and could get to the mark by the end of the competition.

From 82 caps, it is an enviable scoring rate from Butler, who is now back in Glenanne and working for the Canterbury sports company after playing for three years as a professional for The Dragons Club in Belgium. The faster strike rate has also made him the tournament's leading scorer with five goals from three games. The improvement could not have come at a more opportune time.

Ireland's short-corner routine had been poor to average up until yesterday's match, where Butler converted the first two and Mark Gleghorne the third from a game total of five corners. After just 46 minutes that haul had put the match beyond the reach of the struggling Russians, who swept forward dangerously but never really knocked Ireland off their game.

For the other corners Butler was not on the pitch as coach Dave Passmore decided this match was one to rest his key players.

Nigel Henderson in goal replaced Wesley Bateman, while Butler, Paddy Brown and Jason Black rolled off the pitch to the bench for the first time since the tournament began.

The Irish squad now face the Austria in the first cross-over match with the prize for a win not only a place in the European Trophy Championship final but also promotion into the elite European Championship in two years' time and a World Cup qualifying place if they win the tournament outright.

Ireland's pool success also gives them the earlier match on Friday, which removes the prospect of playing again under the woefully inadequate lights that cast dark shadows all around the pitch in the match against Wales.

But as Passmore pointed out yesterday, it is sometimes preferable to play in the cool of evening than in sweltering heat.

And yesterday was boiling although Butler's low, hard drags into the corner gave Ireland plenty of breathing space. The first half was shabby with passes going astray and Ireland occasionally inviting the fast-running Russians to do damage.

They did just that on 63 minutes when Pavel Plesetskiy touched from close range in a crowded goalmouth for 3-1. Ireland could have pocketed a few more goals in the closing period, with Mark Irwin and Andy Barbour as usual in the thick of things.

Barbour did net a ball late in the game but after consultation the umpires rightly decided it had hit his foot as he was bringing it under control, while David Hobbs just missed swatting in a rebound off the post following a low push from Sherriff at Ireland's final corner.

So it was left to Butler to finally nail the game from the penalty-stroke spot when Mark Black was body checked dribbling into the Russian circle. With only two minutes remaining - and bearing in mind some video research done by the Irish backroom team - he again put the ball low and hard.

"We've had better first halves," said Passmore after the match. "We had qualified (first-fourth playoffs) before the game had started but still we were a little disappointing in the first half. In the end we probably could have also scored a few more goals."

That won't damage morale and in Ireland's favour they were able to pick up their game. And how was that done?

"Sometimes when you have a slack start to a game, you need a kick up the arse from the coach at half time to get you going," said Butler. "You know it doesn't hurt if the team aren't performing."

IRELAND: N Henderson; K Burns, D Smyth, P Brown , J Black, M Black, S Butler, M Raphael, M Irwin, J Sherriff, G Shaw. Rolling subs: M Gleghorne, D Hobbs, G Elliott, I Lewers.