FTC claim crucial away win; Fleury drop yet another point

Ferencvaros came out best from Round 3 in the Women’s EHF Champions League Group B after two exciting games.

The Hungarian champions won at Thüringer HC to sit comfortably on top; Fleury Loiret lost yet another point in the dying seconds of the game.

GROUP B

Thüringer HC (GER) vs FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) 27:30 (13:18)

Ferencvaros got off to a flying start in front of the enthusiastic crowd in Nordhausen, with Zita Szucsanszki and Dora Hornyak putting the Hungarian outfit in the driving seat right from the get-go.

Thüringer HC were trailing by four goals when they took the first time-out in the 12th minute.

Katrin Engel and Kerstin Wohlbold inspired the home side to close the gap, but the end of the first half belonged to the visitors as the unstoppable Szucsanszki scored her seventh goal to put Ferencvaros up by five goals before the break.

The first ten minutes of the second half brought no major changes as Melinda Szikora remained excellent between the posts for Ferencvaros but when Gabor Elek took off Szucsanszki the German side made good use of her absence and started to creep back.

FTC lost their rhythm and suddenly it became an open affair.

Thüringer HC had chances to equalize but Szikora proved to be key as the young goalkeeper saved shots from all angles to keep her team ahead.

Szucsanszki came back and Ferencvaros held on to their lead.

Luca Szekerczes remained flawless from the 7-meter line, scoring from each and every penalty.

Podravka Vegeta (CRO) vs Fleury Loiret Handball (FRA) 20:20 (11:13)

Podravka were desperate to claim their first win of the season, which was also true for the visitors - albeit Fleury Loiret were undefeated having drawn against Thüringer HC and Ferencvaros in the first two rounds.

The visitors took an early lead and stayed up for most of the game, but Podravka fought well and remained close to their visitors.

Ivana Kapitanovic made some nice saves behind the Croatian wall which was more compact than in the first two rounds and Fleury struggled to extend their lead.

Alexandrina Cabral Barbosa was the most prolific scorer for the visitors, but the fiesty home side refused to give up and equalised nine minutes from the final whistle to send the Koprovnica crowd into a frenzy.

Kapitanovic remained outstanding but the fight took too much out of the young Croatian players and Fleury re-took the lead.

Barbosa was sent off for two minutes and Podravka once again equalized 40 seconds from the buzzer.

It was a familiar scene for Fleury as last week they lost a point in the dying seconds of the game against Ferencvaros.

Podravka deservedly took their first point of the season while Fleury Loiret remain unbeaten but sit with only three points from three games.