Hard work for home victory

Szeged took only two points from the first four matches of the Main Round and it meant that they could not play for the semi-finals of the Champions League. The situation was similar for Celje and the two teams were playing for leaving the competition with good memories.

The two sides started the game with tough defending and this was obvious when one looked at the board. It was 4-1 for Szeged in the 11th minute, which was mainly due to the great performance of Puljezevic.

The Slovenian Terzic suffered a minor injury and also the jersey of Stamate indicated that the teams took the match more than seriously.

The goals were not coming in the follwoing phase as the defensive walls worked perfectly on both sides and powerful shots were just not coming. After many missed chances Kokhsarov equalised from a 7-m shot (6-6 in the 27th minute).

Szeged were apparently not calm and they had two suspensions, but the guests could not take the lead by halftime, (8-7).

Szeged stared better after the break and took a 3-goal lead in five minutes (11-8). The hosts were playing long periods with one man down, but the goals of right winger Ghionea keptthem ahead.

It was 16-14 in the 54th minute when also Krivokapic improved on the home side, but the Slovenians were able to make use of their 5-1 defence with the goals of Stojanovic. At the end Celje equalised the game in the last minute with a Spiler goal.

Szeged substituted Puljezevic for the last attack and Ghionea scored the winning goal in the back of Skof’s net. Though Celje tried to reply right after the throw-off, Vadkerti kicked the ball away that earned a red card for the player and the victory for the hosts – 20-19 at the end.