GROUP B REVIEW: After their eighth defeat, the Hungarian side cannot make it to the Last 16, while Schaffhausen’s match winner was once again Pilipovic
Grundfos Tatabanya KC had been among the favourites for a spot in the Last 16 in Group D, but head coach Vladan Matic's side still have not a single point to their name after eight matches. The 23:27 defeat at Kadetten Schaffhausen on Thursday night finally ends all hopes of making the knock-out stage. On the other hand, the Swiss champions have opened the door to the Last 16 with eight points on their tally.
GROUP B:
Kadetten Schaffhausen (SUI) vs. Grundfos Tatabanya KC (HUN) 27:23 (14:9)
- It was Kadetten’s biggest win of this European League season, the re-match will be played next Tuesday.
- Kadetten took their second victory this week, after the 24:21 against Trebnje on Tuesday, for Tatabanya it was their second defeat within 24 hours after the 30:37 against Rhein-Neckar Löwen.
- A Hungarian international, Gabor Csaszar, was top scorer for Kadetten by six strikes.
- After 12 saves against Trebnje on Tuesday, goalkeeper Kristian Pilipovic was on fire again: Thanks to ten saves just in the first half, the Austrian was on 53% at the break - in the end he had 15 saves to his name.
- The attack percentage of 56:32 says it all about the first half, in which the hosts notched an incredible 8:0 run from 4:5 to 12:5, while Tatabanya did not score for 16 minutes.
- Only eight minutes after the break, Tatabanya’s defence boss Adrian Sipos received a red card after his third suspension.
- The second half was a bit up and down - from 19:12 to 21:17 to 27:20, but the margin was never smaller than four goals.
Kadetten are close to first knock-out stage since 2012
Since the 2003/04 season, Kadetten Schaffhausen have always played in EHF club competitions, including eleven EHF Champions League seasons. Their biggest international success was making it to the 2009/10 EHF Cup finals. But since 2012, when they were defeated by finalists Atletico Madrid in the Last 16 of the EHF Champions League, Kadetten have not clinched a berth to a knock-out stage in any competition, always falling in the group phase or even qualification. Now, they are only one step away from this goal in the European League.
TEXT:
EHF / Björn Pazen