Jícha leads Kiel to narrow victory

Filip Jícha scored eight goals including the match winner in the vanning seconds and added a steal just before the final whistle as THW Kiel entered the new edition of the VELUX EHF Champions League with a 34:33 victory over Orlen Wisła Płock in the first round thriller more than worthy its title – the Match of the Week.

Płock started their new adventure exactly as they finished the previous one – defeated by Kiel. But the Round 1 encounter with three-time winners of the European top flight was completely different matter to the one-sided affair in the Last 16 of the 2011/12 season.

On the other hand Kiel snapped their two-game losing streak brought from the previous VELUX EHF FINAL4 and confirmed the role of the group's favourites despite remarkable summer roster changes with several stalwarts leaving zebras.  

Match of the Week, Round 1, Group B:
Orlen Wisła Płock vs THW Kiel 33:34 (14:14)

Not long before Jícha's key moves Kiel were on the brink of the third defeat in a row. Four minutes before the end the new coach of Orlen Manolo Cadenas took a time-out for hosts and their summer signing Mariusz Jurkiewicz scored after the fast break to make it 33:32 for Płock.

However, Jícha showed his class and underlined his reputation of the best left back of the 20 years history of the EHF Champions League as he score the winning goal.

The beginning of the match belonged to Płock and they led 7:3 after Jurkiewicz's goal 13 minutes in the first half. Kiel replied with several unanswered goals and a 6:1 series which turned the tides and put the German club in lead (9:8).

The rivals entered the second half side-by-side (14:14) and although Ivan Milas and Muhamed Toromanović gave the home team a two-goal lead, Kiel were back soon enough to take the reins of the match with 17 minutes left in the game as Guðjón Valur Sigurðsson was unstoppable in attack in this period.

“I am proud of my team. It was hard and tough game for us. We had a lot of luck at the end of the match, because we as well as Płock could win it,” said  Alfreð Gíslason at the post match conference.

“I did not think that we would be able play so good against THW. The fans was amazing, they were our added player and helped us so much,” commented Marcin Lijewski.