Following their opening defeats earlier this week, both Czech Republic and Croatia were under pressure and hoped to claim first points in their game. And it was the Balkan side who did it, narrowly beating the Czechs 26:24.

GROUP 4

Czech Republic vs Croatia 24:26 (14:14)

• the home side led for much of the first half, their advantage reaching five goals (14:9) in the 23rd minute
• yet spurred by Camilla Micievic, Croatia used a 5:0 run to draw level at half-time
• between the 42nd and 50th minutes, the visitors enjoyed another good run, 6:2, which played a key role in the game
• Valentina Blazevic and Dora Krsnik scored six goals each to become Croatia's joint top scorers
• the Balkan team climbed to second place in the group with two points, while Czech Republic have yet to earn their first points

Jerabkova's effort not enough

Left back Marketa Jerabkova was omnipresent, scoring almost half of Czech Republic's goals (11) from 21 attempts, yet her effort did not secure even a draw for the home team.

While the match was very close, Croatia were slightly better as a unit, and an away win can be seen as a kind of redemption following a shocking defeat against Ukraine on Thursday.