Victory over Zagreb brings Kielce back on top of Group B, Сelje and Brest split points againArticle
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GROUP B REVIEW: After eleven days of break from last VELUX EHF Champions League duel against Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb, KS Vive Tauron Kielce once again defeated the Croatian team and Celje Pivovarna Lasko and HC Meshkov Brest could not determine a winner in a thrilling duel.
 

Victory over Zagreb brings Kielce back on top of Group B, Сelje and Brest split points again

After eleven days of break from last VELUX EHF Champions League duel against Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb, KS Vive Tauron Kielce once again defeated a Croatian team, this time at home 29:25. Sunday’s victory gave the Polish Champions the first place in the rank, tied with HC Vardar, while the charges of Silvio Ivandija still remain at the bottom of the Group B with two points.

  • A good shape of Matevz Skok contributed to the lead of the Croats in the first half
  • The solid defence supprted by Filip Ivic allowed Kielce to regain the lead in the second part
  • Julen Aguinagalde from Kielce and Stipe Mandalinic led the scorers list, both with 7 goals
  • The victory gave Kielce a tie for first in the group B, while Zagreb remains at the bottom with two points
  • Сelje and Brest could not determine a winner in either of their two encounters
  • Blaz Janc and David Razgor were Celje's top scorers with nine goals each; Vladislav Ostroushko was the top scorer for Brest with eight goals
  • After eight games, Brest have eight points and Сelje have five points

GROUP B

KS Vive Tauron Kielce (POL)  vs HC Prvo plinarsko drustvo Zagreb (CRO) 29:25,11:12

Comparing to the previous match of the teams, Zagreb played without Lovro Sprem, Leon Susnja and Dobrivoje Markovic; however, with Josip Eres, Darko Cingesar and Welko Markoski. Kielce disposed only 14 players, still without Michal Jurecki, Patryk Walczak and Tobias Reichmann. Reichmann was injured in Varazdin and maybe will be back on court for the next game against Vardar.

Both teams started the game with aggressive 5:1 defence, Kielce with Mateusz Jachlewski and Zagreb with Igor Vori in front. The giant line player seemed to bother their rivals much more than small winger the guests, as the players of Zagreb were finding different ways to score from various positions which gave them a 4:1 lead.

Solid start, dizzy end

Meanwhile Matevz Skok stopped distance shots twice from Karol Bielecki and then once again confirmed his domination over Polish icon, defending his penalty shot. However, soon Kielce found a different way to the Croatian goal, pressuring the guests to making mistakes that gave Vive three more 7 meters shots, well executed by Julen Aguinagalde.

The closer to the end of the first half, the game was getting more dizzy. Both teams were losing the ball and counter-attacking each other. Four goals in a row gave Zagreb two goals lead over the hosts (9:11), but in the end a powerful, classy throw of Mariusz Jurkiewicz fixed the half score at 11:12.

Vain ambitious chase after Polish Champions

At the beginning of the second part, the game got dominated by Kielce thanks to craped defence and Filip Ivic’s parades who seemed to envy his vis-à-vis a solid disposal. The balls stolen from Croats were mostly used by Balkan wingers in the ranks of the hosts with Manuel Strlek ahead.
During first ten minutes Vive scored seven goals while Zagreb managed to defeat Ivic only thrice. But the boys of Silvio Ivandija didn’t stop pushing. Plenty of impressive shots from Lovro Jotic let the guests stay in the game and reduce the loss from four to only two goals (20:18).

Players of Zagreb bended over backwards pushed ambitiously by Stipe Mandalinic in order to catch up with Kielce, but it seemed that wanted it too much, as their mistakes were putting the ball right into hands of the Polish Champions. In the end, Vive Tauron Kielce collected next two points, extending their lead again till four goals with the score 29:25.

Post-match statements:

Silvio Ivandija: The one who loses the game has a right to be angry and I am very angry because I think we didn’t deserve to lose tonight. There are lots of reasons why we lost, but the first on that Kielce played a very good handball.

Lovro Jotic: We have the same situations in each game. We lack a little bit of luck and make crucial mistakes in the last minutes of the games. Tonight Filip Ivic saved in the most important moments of the game, that’s why we lost.

Talant Dujshebaev: I don’t understand everyone who doesn’t respect the team with such great players like Igor Voir or Josip Valcic. Tonight we fought much better than played, we’re not in a good shape, but we still fight, that’s why I’m really proud of the team.

Darko Djukic: Today it was a very hard match for us, sometimes I think people don’t know who Zagreb is. I want to thank public for the atmosphere tonight.

Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO) vs HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) 36:36, 18:17

Last weekend, the two opponents met in Brest and split the points in an exciting game (29:29). The match in Сelje was extremely tight as well, and this time the final score was 36:36.

Given their solid performance in the VELUX EHF Champions League this season, on paper HC Meshkov Brest might be considered favourites against Celje Pivovarna Lasko, yet the Slovenian champions managed to grab a point in each of the two matches.

Brest efficient in attack

Since the first minutes, the opponents exchanged quick and dynamic attacks, and while the hosts tried to play more actively, Brest responded with an excellent efficiency of their attacks.

In fact, the Belarusian side had a 100% shot efficiency before the 17th minute when Dainis Kristopans missed his attempt. Shortly before that, Brest built up a two-goal advantage for the first time in the match (10:8), yet Celje replaced the goalkeeper Ivan Gajiс by Urban Lesjak, quickly seized the initiative and changed the score to 11:10.

The pendulum was swinging for the rest of the first half, with Brest leading by two goals (15:13) in the 26th minute. Yet the hosts’ young leader Blaz Janc, who had been somewhat unfortunate earlier in the game, finally showed his best qualities. He was instrumental in another Celje’s comeback as they were up 18:17 at half time.

Сelje came back in the end

The hosts were also the better side early in the second half. They were constantly in lead by two or three goals, and David Razgor was especially prolific during that spell.

Сelje vs. Brest matches could become brothers' duels as Simon Razgor plays for Brest, yet he has been sidelined due to health problems and missed both games against his former team.

The visitors had a good run midway through the second half when they came back from 26:27 to 29:27. After that, Brest felt more confidence and dominated the game.

Five minutes from time, the Belarusian side were in lead 33:29, and it looked like the game was decided. Yet Celje showed great character and not only drew level, but went in front 36:35 after Blaz Janc’s shot in the last minute. However, Ljubo Vukic saved the Belarusian side from defeat, scoring in the dying seconds.

Post-match statements:

Branko Tamse: “I have to congratulate my players, who have shown one of the biggest come backs in history of handball. If I am correct, we were trailing for three or four goals two and a half minutes before the end and that fifteen seconds before the end, we had a victory in our pocket. I am very happy that we managed that, since both teams are very tired because of this rhythm of matches. But they left everything on the court. It was a very interesting match for the fans and I think that point for each team is fair. I would also like to thank our fans for the great support, which gave us that extra power to rise up to get this very important point.”


TEXT: Magda Pluszewska/Sergey Nikolaev/tm
 
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