HC Vardar – Telekom Veszprém 27:29

MAGYARUL 

 

 

HC Vardar: Ghedbane, Milosavljev – Stoilov 4 Popovski, Kristopans 4, Ferreira 1, Dissinger 5, Karacic, Skube 4, Kalarash 2, Cupic 3 (2), Dibirov 1 (1), Shishkarev 1, Borozan 2, Vojvodic, Kiselev

 

Telekom Veszprém: Sterbik, Mikler – Manaskov 2, Tonnesen 1, Gajic, Nilsson 1, Nagy 6, Marguc 2, Strlek 3, Terzic, Blagotinsek, Nenadic 4, Mahé 1, Mackovsek 2, Lékai 7

 

Penalties: 5/3 and 3/2

Suspensions: 8 min. and 12 min.

 

 

Telekom Veszprém was ready to gather its 13th victory in a row regarding all competitions and tried to do it in Skopje, against Vardar. This game was called Match of the Week by EHF in this round of Champions League. Our team was supported by more than 200 Hungarian fans at the venue. However, Veszprém started the game, the first goal was scored by Dissinger from Vardar. But then Lékai answered immediately. In the starting period of the clash the teams always had answers for the another’s goals. The leading scorer of the home team was Dissinger, on the other side it was Lékai while both goalkeepers – Milosavljev and Sterbik - had great saves. The result was 6:6 at the end of the 12th minutes. The middle part of the first half was better for the Vardar, so coach Davis called a timeout at 11:8 in the 22nd minute. But the performance of Veszprém did not improved and the lead of Vardar was already 6 goals in the 27th minute, mostly because of the brilliant parades of their goalie. The result of the halftime was 16:11 for the home team.

 

The second half started with saves by Mikler and goals from Marguc and Strlek (33rd minute: 16:13). The gap was decreasing and it was only 1 goal in the end of 37th minute so coach Parrondo called a timeout. But after that Mackovsek equalized immediately. Veszprém could not take the lead and Vardar was leading already by 3 in the 45th minute (21:18). But the guest team – thanks to the saves of Mikler – started to get closer and in the 51st minute Lékai could equalize (22:22). In the 23rd minute already Veszprém had the lead (23:24). Again parades by Mikler then a goal by Nenadic were coming and the lead of Telekom was 2 goals in the 27th minute (24:26). For the last 40 second Veszprém had a minimal lead but was one player less on the court. But the “Építők” had the ball and coach Davis called a timeout. The Hungarian record champion managed the remaining time very well and the goal of Nagy decided the game for the favor of guests (27:29).

 

 

David Davis: I am very happy to be back to Skopje where I spent four and half years and where I have many friends. We knew that it would be a hard match because not so many teams can win here. In the first half Vardar played very well, we made mistakes and our goalkeeper was not on the necessary level. But in the second half we could take the lead because we played well, the Vardar got tired and our goalkeeper was much better. So at the end we could win the game.

 

Dejan Manaskov: It is always tough to play here but I was happy to be back to Macedonia, to my hometown. In the first half we made some mistakes and Vardar took this advantage. David (Davis) was angry about us “a little bit” and maybe this gave us some power for the second half. We came out and showed more discipline and more focus. I think we deserved the win because of our performance in the second half.

 

Roberto Garcia Parrondo: Congratulations to Veszprém. Of course, we are not satisfied. We had a very good first half. In the second half we wanted to continue that performance but we could not and Mikler was very good on the other side. We could hardly score against him. Veszprém was better in the last ten minutes while we missed a lot of shots.

 

Stas Skube: This match had two different halves. The first one was much better for us but in the second one Veszprém dominated the game. Roland Mikler was fantastic and saved some very hard shots. On the other side we did not have enough players in the rotation. Veszprém was better today and deserved to win this game. We have to look ahead because we have two more games left. If we will be able to win those games then probably we can achieve the third place in this group. That would not be a bad result in this hard group.

 

 

Photos: Dávid Vörös