Third win for Magdeburg and Silkeborg; first defeat for Nantes

SC Magdeburg took their third successive win in Group A, as the German team won 32:28 at home against Fraikin BM. Granollers.

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg copied Magdeburg’s achievement, winning 32:26 at home against SKA Minsk in Group C, where Pfdo Winterthur made a stunning comeback from being nine goals down to draw 28:28 away against Saint-Raphael; HBC Nantes suffered their first defeat, as Frisch Auf Göppingen overcame them narrowly 27:26 in Group B.

In Group D, Chambery Savoie Handball remain undefeated after a 28:22 away win against Helvetia Anaitasuna.

Men’s EHF Cup

GROUP A

Aalborg Handball (DEN) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) 28:28 (17:13)

Aalborg got their first point in the group phase, but they were reaching out for the win most of the time, until they had to settle for a draw in the end in front of 3,347 spectators in the Jutlander Bank Arena.

Aalborg were missing goalkeeper Andreas Palicka and playmaker Sander Sagosen due to injury, but their substitutes did well from the start, goalkeeper Soren Westphal in particular.

Aalborg were dominating in the first half and were leading by five goals a couple of times before winning the half by four.

In the second half, the home team increased their led to six goals, but Dinamo refused to give in, and slowly the Romanian team worked and fought themselves back into the game.

With one minute and three seconds left, Dinamo equalised making it 27:27, and with 20 seconds left, they even took the lead, before Aalborg managed to equalise five seconds before the final buzzer.

“Actually, I am 90 per cent content with our effort today, but we still lack international experience.

“That is the reason why we missed too many opportunities and fell asleep in our defence in decisive situations,” Aalborg coach Jesper Jensen said.

SC Magdeburg (GER) vs Fraikin BM. Granollers (ESP) 32:28 (16:14)

Magdeburg took their third win out of three, as Granollers were defeated by four goals in the GETEC Arena.

However, the German side had trouble closing the match despite several clear leads in the second half.

The first half was relatively equal with the visitors going up by one or two goals several times.

Scoring five goals in succession, Magdeburg managed to create a four-goal lead at 16:12, but before the break, the visitors reduced the gap to two goals.

The home team had several clear leads in the second half, but their opponents had a tendency to coming back every time, though not being able to catch up completely.
Magdeburg had their biggest lead at 28:21, but through five goals in a row, Granollers created doubt about the result.

Magdeburg proved able to see out the game in the end though.

The right wings were the most successful goal scorers in both teams.

Robert Weber scored eight goals for Magdeburg, while Ferran Sole hit the net six times for Granollers.

“We had trouble getting into the match, but for great parts of the second half, we were quite dominant,” found Magdeburg coach Bennet Wiegert.

“We were impressed by the atmosphere in the arena, it was really an experience to play here.

“We are going to turn the result next Sunday. Today, Magdeburg had too many options to make changes,” said Granollers coach Carlos Viver.

GROUP B

Frisch Auf Göppingen (GER) vs HBC Nantes (FRA) 27:26 (14:13)

In front of 3,150 spectators in the EWS Arena in Göppingen, the home side caused Nantes their first defeat in the group phase in an overall fairly equal match.

The home team seemed to be heading for a clear win, as they went up 8:4 after an equal start, but it did not take Nantes long to come back, and at half-time, only one goal was separating the two teams.

Early in the second half, it seemed to be Nantes, who were heading for the win, as four goals from the French side in a row changed a 17:15 lead for Göppingen into a 19:17 lead in favour of the visitors.

The visitors managed to hang on to their two-goal lead up until the score read 22:20, but then it was Göppingen’s turn to scored four goals in a row, making it 24:22.

Göppingen also went up 26:23, and even though Nantes reduced the gap to one goal in the last minute, they were not able to catch up completely.

GROUP C

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (DEN) vs SKA Minsk (BLR) 32:26 (15:14)

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg took their third win out of three in the group through this clear victory, but they had their trouble with the young Minsk team for quite some time, and it was only in the last 15 minutes did the home team managed to remove any doubt about the result.

Minsk’s aggressive 3-3 defence caused the Danish attacking play some trouble at the beginning, and as the home team started to get around defenders, Minsk increased their scoring efficiency at the other end of the court.

In fact, the visitors were leading for most of the first half, and several times by two goals, but towards half-time, the hosts went on to take a narrow lead.

The start of the second half was equal too, but slowly Silkeborg managed to take the upper hand, as it became more and more clear that the Danish team had more resources in the physical match.

In the last 10 minutes, there was no doubt at all, who were the better team, and Silkeborg increased their lead to seven goals before winning by six.

“We had more resources at the end, and we managed to stabilise our defence, while I think we played good attacking handball all the way,” said defence specialist Klaus Thomsen of Silkeborg.

Saint-Raphael Var Handball (FRA) vs Pfadi Winterthur (SUI) (16:7)

No one in the Palais des Sports JF Krakowski in Saint Raphael probably imagined after the first half that this match would end in a draw.

The home side was completely dominating in the first half, which they won by nine goals, but still Winterthur managed to mount a comeback and even were close to a win right at the end.

Saint Raphael seemed to be going to decide the matter in the middle of the first half, as they went from 6:5 to 12:5.

That lead was increased to nine goals at half-time, and early in the second half, Saint Raphael were still leading by nine goals, 19:10.

However, the hosts started to lose concentration, and an improving Swiss team crawled closer.

In fact, the visitors managed to catch up with their opponents completely.

With five minutes and five seconds left, Winterthur equalised for the first time, at 26:26, and the last minutes became a nail-biting affair, where Winterthur even had the chance to take both points but ended by celebrating the draw as if it was a win.

Despite the loss of one point, Saint Raphael are in second position in the group, but three points adrift of group leaders Bjerringbro-Silkeborg.

GROUP D

CSM Bucuresti (ROU) vs Ystads IF (SWE) 27:27 (13:11)

CSM drew for the second match in a row, while Ystad got their first away point in a match, which saw the home team have the upper hand most of the tie.

The 2,015 spectators saw both teams face scoring problems at the start, but still, CSM got their goals a bit easier than their opponents.

As the goals started to flow more swiftly, though, Ystad came back and were leading 11:10, before CSM closed the first half two goals up.

After the break, CSM were still in the lead, but never more than two goals, and at the end, Ystad managed to grab a point.

“We had the same thing against Chambery, but I guess we are specialists at draws.

“We lead throughout the game, but we made mistakes in the defence, and the final result is a draw,” said CSM coach Zvonko Shundovski, while his Ystad colleague, Sebastian Seifert was happy with the draw.

“I think it would have been unfair, if we had left with the two points, we were behind the whole game, but we were a little bit lucky and come away with one point.

“I am both satisfied and not, I always want to win, but one point is good enough,” found the Ystad coach.

The right backs were the most successful shooters in both teams.

Spanish Javier Humet scored nine goals for CSM, just as Kim Andersson did for Ystad.

Helvetia Anaitasuna (ESP) vs Chambery Savoie Handball (FRA) 22:28 (12:14)

Just like SC Magdeburg in Group A and Bjerringbro-Silkeborg in Group C, Chambery are undefeated after the first half of the group phase.

Due to their 25:25 draw away against CSM Bucuresti last weekend, the French team has one point less than Magdeburg and Silkeborg, though.

Still, their six-goal win in Spain Saturday night was enough to give them the first place in the group with five points after their three matches.

After a relatively equal first half in Pamplona, which Chambery won by two goals, the visitors managed to increase the distance after the break and remove any doubt about the outcome.

1,500 spectators saw left back Timothy N’guessan score six goals for Chambery, while centre back Angel Perez de Inestrosa scored five for Helvetia.