Slagelse back in the race

Slagelse DT are back in the race in Group A after a 27-19 win over HC Podravka Vegeta in Helsingør, the historic town of the Kronborg Castle, where great part of William Shakespeare´s play “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” takes place.

Slagelse had to move the match as far as to Helsingør, 135 kilometres from Slagelse, as this was the closest sports hall suitable on this Saturday. Slagelse desperately needed a win after losing their opening match in Hungary against Győri Audi ETO. However, the team of coach Anja Andersen were severely handicapped: the backcourt player Gabriela Rotis-Nagy, the defensive specialist Line Hovgaard and pivot Marianne Bonde were sidelined with injuries.

Podravka without a chance

In spite of all these problems, Slagelse showed an impressive performance. The Danes were great in defence – and behind them Cecilie Leganger was magnificent with saving no less than 59 percent of the shots of the Croatian champions.

Apart from the start when Podravka were leading 3-1, Slagelse had the upper hand all the way. From 8-5, the home team did not leave their guests a chance. Slagelse were soon 7 goals up, and after a 14-8 lead at halftime, this lead was extended to 9 goals several times in the second half.

Anja Andersen was forced to make several experiments as she had many injured players in the squad. For instance, two players who are normally wingers, Emiliya Turey and Maja Savic, played most of the match in the backcourt position. In fact, they were successful.

Good defending, bad shooting

“We are happy about our defence as we moved very well throughout the match. We had bigger problems in our attacks once again. However, I’m satisfied that we won as we did. The goal difference may also be important against Podravka later,” said Slagelse’s pivot, Mette Melgaard after the win witnessed by 2100 spectators.

Zovko was rather disappointed on the other side. According to the Croatian coach, the defeat was due to bad defensive play, bad shooting percentage in clear chances and the missed 7-m shots (missed 6 out of 9).

Team captain, Bozica Palcic, said after the game:

"We did not deserve to lose with such a big margin. Personally, I expected to play much better, but our main problem was our shooting percentage. Leganger was great in the goal and we simply couldn't score. We defeated Ribarroja at home and lost the away match against Slagelse. Slagelse are much better than Ribarroja as they are the CL winners, anyway...“

The only Prodravka player who really managed to cause Slagelse defence some trouble, was a right-handed backcourt player, Anita Bulath. The Hungarian player knew Danish handball beforehand after spending several years with FCK Håndbold. It was therefore no wonder that Bulath was top scorer of Podravka with 6 goals, while Ana Batinic scored 9 for Slagelse.