Advantage Vardar after narrow win in Denmark

HC Vardar took a big step towards their fifth Women’s EHF FINAL4 in a row, as they won the first leg of the quarter-final 24:23 away against FC Midtjylland on Friday evening.

• Midtjylland were leading by four goals on two occasions
• Vardar kept Midtjylland from scoring for 16-and-a-half minutes
• Dragana Cvijic scored eight goals for Vardar, Veronica Kristiansen and Emma Friis six each for Midtjylland

QUARTER-FINAL, FIRST LEG
FC Midtjylland (DEN) vs HC Vardar (MKD) 23:24 (16:13)

While Vardar could rely on their strongest outfit, Midtjylland’s already long injury list was extended by left wing Mie Augustesen’s absence.

However, 18-year-old Emma Friis did well in her absence, so did the German veteran Sabine Englert in goal behind a strong Midtjylland defence.

These factor, as well as a strong counter phase, and playing seven against six at times enabled Midtjylland to lead by two or three goals for most of the first half and even by four goals twice, at 14:10 and 16:12.

As the second half progressed, though, Vardar managed to tighten their defence and were led brilliantly by Andrea Lekic as playmaker in the attack, while Dragana Cvijic improved on the line, allowing the visitors to catch up.

After Andrea Penezic equalised to make it 20:20 with 14 minutes left, the match belonged to Vardar who benefited from a 16-and-a-half minute scoring drought for the home team to go 23:20 ahead.

However, they were not able to shake off Midtjylland, who managed to reduce the deficit to just one goal at the end.

The second leg takes place in the Sport Center Jane Sandanski in Skopje next Saturday.