Szeged take fourth win in convincing style

Pick Szeged are virtually in the quarter-final of the Men's EHF cup after a convincing 37:31 home win against TATRAN Presov.
With eight points for four matches, Szeged are leading Group C clearly, two points ahead of HBC Nantes who kept thei quarter-final hopes very much alive through a 25:23 home wing against IFK Kristianstad.

In Group B, Sporting CP continue their hunt for a place in the quarter-final. Saturday, the Portuguese team booked another large win against HC Zomimak-M. Having defeated their Macedonian opponents HC Zomimak-M with 17 goals at home, Sporting went on to win with 12, 36:24 in FYR Macedonia.
 
Group B
HC Zomimak-M (MKD) vs Sporting CP (POR) 24:36 (13:20)

With 12 and 10 goals, Pedro Caseiro and Pedor Silva contributed with more than half of the Sporting goals to the Portuguese team´s big win in FYR Macedonia – a win which keeps Sporting on the track towards the quarter-final, now with six points for four matches.

1,200 spectators in the Sport hall Strumica saw their local heroes suffer their fourth defeat in four matches, and the third big defeat. At the end,even the home crowd surrendered and applauded the visitors's performance.

The Macedonian EHF Cup debutants, who are without any chance to proceed to the quarter-final, found themselves being seven goals down already at half time, and in the second half, the visitors continued to increase their lead to a 12 goal win.

Group C
HBC Nantes (FRA) vs IFK Kristianstad (SWE) 25:23 (15:11)

Nantes took a major step towards the quarter-finals through Saturday afternoon´s home win against IFK Kristianstad who are definitively out of the race for the quarter-final positions.

The match was equal for great parts of the first half, but with Nantes in the driver's seat most of the time, and towards half time, the 3750 spectators saw the home team create a four goal distance.

In the second half, the hosts got five goals ahead, and even though the visitors came a bit closer, Nantes managed to stay ahead.

With six points after four matches, Nantes stay right behind group leaders Pick Szeged.
For Kristianstad´s left back Markus Olsson, it will be an afternoon to forget, as he used no less than 12 attempts to score his three goals.

“Even though we missed a lot of opportunities, we stood together and did well as a team,” found Sävehof´s assistant coach Björn Sätherström told the Swedish Handball Federation's website.

Pick Szeged (HUN) vs TATRAN Presov (SVK) 37:31 (19:9)

Peculiar things will have to happen, if Pick Szeged are not among the teams who are going to play the quarter-finals of the EHF Cup.

Saturday evening, the Hungarian top team won their fourth victory out of four, as they left TATRAN Presov no chance in front of 3000 spectators in the Varosi Sportsarnok.

The win was clearer than the final digits indicate. Szeged practically decided the match in the first half, starting by taking a 3:0 lead and increasing it to 11:4 and 19:9 at half time.

Presov scored the first four goals of the second half, but that did not shake the home team much, and the distance was never less than six goals which was also the gap at the end.

“In the first half we decided the match in our defence. After the break I wanted to give the chance to the players who usually do not play so much. We still have a lot of really hard matches, so we have to continue our work and go forward,” Pick Szeged coach Juan Carlos Pastor said after the match.

“In an atmosphere like this in Szeged, it is impossible to win. The local spectators created a fantastic atmosphere during the whole match. We still want to go to the quarter-final, but we know exactly that the task is going to be really hard,” right winger Tomas Urban from TATRAN Presov said.