Viborg on the right track

Seven players were missing from Viborg due to pregnancy and to various injuries. Nevertheless, the Women’s Champions League winners managed to win test matches against the German champions HC Leipzig over the weekend.

Both teams will be in Group A of the EHF Champions League group stage. After winning 28-20 and 30-23 in the two test matches last week, Viborg had the psychological upper hand already.

Apart from the pregnant Grit Jurack and the reserve goalkeeper Louise Bager Due, the Danes also missed the injured Bojana Popovic, Nora Reiche, Kristina Lunde-Borgersen, Gitte Aaen and Mónika Kovacsics.

The preparations of Leipzig are more advanced at the moment as they won the Stelioplast Cup in the German town of Wittlich defeating Norwegian champions and Champions League group stage participants Larvik HK in the final.

Were Viborg definitely better at the two matches on the Danish island of Bornholm, where both teams had their training camps last week. The defence and the wingers, Henriette Mikkelsen and Christina Varzaru in particular, made the difference in Viborg´s favour.

Worried coach

In spite of the clear wins, the many missing players still worry the Danish coach Jakob Vestergaard.

“As we have very few players fit at the moment, we cannot train with the intensity we would like to. We have to let some of the players have a rest so that they can return for the test matches,” the coach said.

However, Vestergaard was also pleased with one of the new players. The Austrian backcourt player, Gorica Acimovic, joined Hypo Niederösterreich during the summer.

“Gorica fits in our defensive strategy very well and this allows us to focus on the attacking side of the game. Our attack will be much different from last season as we will have a right-handed player for the right back position,” Jakob Vestergaard said.

The coach was also pleased to notice that the two young backcourt players, Dianne Møller and Josephine Staffran, did very well in the absence of the many stars.