Savehof crush FCM for first main round win

Playing on the road in a Scandinavian derby was never going to be an easy task for Danish champions, FC Midtjylland, but few of their fans would have expected a resounding eight-goal defeat at Swedish opponents, IK Savehof, who bagged their first two points in the main round with a breath-taking performance.

Group 2
IK Savehof (SWE) vs FC Midtjylland (DEN) 32:24 (17:11)

Midtjylland’s hopes of reaching the Women's EHF Champions league knockout stages suffered a huge setback on Friday after they were blown away by IK Savehof, who tasted victory after seven successive main round defeats.

It was clear from the start that FCM, who sorely needed to win in order to keep up the pressure on fourth-placed CSM Bucuresti, were going to struggle against a fired-up home side.

Propelled by the unstoppable Julia Eriksson, who finished as the game’s top scorer with 11 goals from 17 shots, Savehof kept pulling away in the first half and took a deserved six-goal lead into the dressing room at the interval.

Anyone who thought the Swedish outfit would be unable to keep up with their own high tempo after the break had another thing coming. Impregnable at the back and irresistible in fast breaks which rained down like confetti, Savehof kept firing on all cylinders and their advantage soared to 24:13 early in the second period as the floodgates opened.

Midtjylland then managed to regain some composure and cut the deficit to single figures in the closing stages, but were powerless to turn the tide.
Louise Sand added six goals from eight attempts for Savehof and Linnea Petterson chipped in with five from nine, acting as the perfect support cast for Eriksson.

Johanna Ahlm led FCM with six goals from 10 efforts, Veronica Kristiansen netted four from eight and Stine Jorgensen contributed with a modest four from 13, having endured a torrid evening against an aggressive Savehof defence.