Vardar teach THC a lesson in efficiency

Individual class, a clearly higher efficiency in attack and more alternatives on the bench – those were the three reasons for HC Vardar’s decisive 29:21 win in Nordhausen in Round 2 of the Women’s EHF Champions League. Hosts Thüringer HC had little chance and Vardar finished the round as the only unbeaten team in Group C.

• First defeat for THC, second win for Vardar
• Iveta Luzumova and Beate Scheffknecht contribute 14 of THC’s 21 goals
• Vardar wing Jovanka Radicevic scores seven

GROUP C
Thüringer HC (GER) vs HC Vardar (MKD) 21:29 (11:19)

The hosts had hoped for a sensation like that of 2014, when they beat Vardar 21:20 at home. But on Sunday, Thüringer HC were forced to recognise that the EHF Champions League 2016/17 finalists were in a class of their own.

Despite unwavering support from the stands, THC were the pupils as Vardar taught a tough lesson.

“We started today highly motivated, but, unfortunately, we failed on our own because of the opportunities we missed,” said THC coach Herbert Müller. “We wanted to make the second half more balanced – also in that we did not succeed because Andrea Lekic guided Vardar’s game so excellently.”

Up until the score of 6:6, the hosts were on eye level, then THC – playing without injured Anne Hubinger and Macarena Aguilar – did not score for six minutes and were punished by six consecutive goals. At that point, the deal was already sealed.

While Vardar recorded an extremely high shooting percentage, THC missed a significant number of chances from all positions. The visitor’s defence stood like a wall and Russian veteran goalkeeper Inna Suslina was solid as a rock.

After the eight-goal advantage at the break, it only took three more minutes before Vardar had their first double-digit lead at 22:12. Just like in Round 1, when they demolished FTC in the first 45 minutes, Irina Dibirova’s side allowed the chanceless German runners-up to reduce the gap a little as they rotated their line-up.

But THC even had problems finding the gaps when at a two-player advantage. Only Luzumova (on a total of 21 goals in the season now) and Scheffknecht managed to cause any trouble for Vardar.