Zaporozhye and Flensburg take important wins

In a group as tight as group B, every point is important. And with Zagreb and Nantes having drawn yesterday, it was important for teams to take points today.

Flensburg and Zaporozhye both fulfilled their mission. Relying on their defence, both managed to grab large wins and two points. Flensburg are now third of group B while Zaporozhye, thanks to their second straight win, are not last anymore.

• Flensburg beat Skjern for the second time this season
• This was Flensburg’s first away win of the season
• Skjern’s Anders Eggert scored eight
• Zaporozhye took their second straight win
• Zaporozhye’s Pawel Paczkowski netted eight times

GROUP B

Skjern Handbold (DEN) vs SG Flensburg-Handewitt (GER) 24:31 (13:14)

For 25 minutes, the two teams were side by side on the scoreboard. For Skjern, left winger Anders Eggert was the main offensive threat, scoring six goals in as many attempts to keep his team in the game.

For the visitors, Hampus Wanne and Magnus Jondal were matching Eggert’s antics, scoring three each. As a result, after 25 minutes, the two teams were level, 12:12.

Thanks to Torbjoern Bergerud stopping a couple of shots, Flensburg broke away for a couple of minutes, and nearly had a three-goal advantage. But they failed to convert and Thomas Mogensen, with a last-minute goal, kept the game open.

What Flensburg failed to do in the first half, they did early in the second. Making the most of Skjern’s difficulties in attack, the visitors were ahead by three 20 minutes from the end of the game and increased their advantage seconds later.

The momentum was clearly in Flensburg’s camp, illustrated by Bergerud’s performance between the posts. Kasper Søndergaard was having a hard time getting past him and Flensburg broke away as time went on.

Despite a change between the posts, the locals were never able to regain the control of the game, and Flensburg won their first away game.

Skjern's coach Ole Nørgaard said: “Flensburg was a better team than us today, like they were, when we played in Flensburg. In both games, we played a good first half, but then we gave Flensburg the possibility to get a bigger lead. At the same time we didn’t succeed, and then you see the difference between us and a German top team.”

HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) vs RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO) 36:27 (18:12)

Zaporozhye were clearly the best team on the court in the first half. Thanks to a strong defence and a couple of saves by Gennadiy Komok, the locals quickly broke away, moving three points ahead after only 10 minutes.

Such an advantage was not enough for the Ukrainian side, as they carried on pushing.

Barys Pukhouski and Pawel Paczkowski were the main offensive assets. Scoring four goals each, the backcourt players helped their team to an eight-goal advantage after 20 minutes.

Drasko Nenadic and Rok Ovnicek tried their best not to let Zaporozhye take a bigger advantage, but at half-time, the hosts were still ahead by six.

The half-time break was not productive for the visitors, as Zaporozhye continued to find easy solutions in attack. They increased their lead to 10, four minutes after coming back to the court.

Despite seeming sure of the win, Zaporozhye tried their best to regain the head to head goal-average, since they lost by five in Slovenia.

Just 10 minutes before the final whistle, it looked like they were about to take it back, still leading by 10. However Paczkowski, delivering his best performance of the season with eight goals, helped his team keep its advantage in the last seconds and Zaporozhye finally won by nine, 36:27.