Györ and Viborg in a league of their own

Before the start of the Women’s EHF Champions League, many people saw Györi Audi ETO KC and Viborg HK as favourites to take the two top positions in Group C.

So far, the two teams have definitely not disappointed the people who believed in them. Sunday, both teams took their second clear win in succession and both away, as Viborg defeated HC Lokomotiva Zagreb with seven goals, while Györ won by 17 in Sweden against IK Sävehof.

This means that the next round will see a genuine top match of the group, when Györ visit Viborg.

Women’s EHF Champions League Group C

HC Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) vs Viborg HK (DEN) 18:25 (9:14)

Lokomotiva Zagreb will not have nice memories of their first home game in the Women’s EHF Champions League.

The Croatian champions and competition debutants suffered a clear seven-goal defeat against Viborg HK who booked their second clear win in succession, while Lokomotiva had to realise that they had lost clearly once again.

In fact, the hosts were never in the lead in the match in Dome Sportova. Instead they had to see Viborg increase their lead more or less continuously during the 60 minutes, and by half-time, the small group of Viborg fans in the hall were the only spectators who could be heard among the 1,010 spectators.

Viborg were still missing line player Sille Thomsen (soulder injury), which meant the Danish international Mette Gravholt had to play all 60 minutes on the line again. As Gravholt could be substituted in the defence, however, the strain on her never became too heavy.

The clear win for the visitors was based on a very strong 6:0 defence, built around experienced Rikke Skov and an extremely solid Chana de Souza in the goal.

The strong defence also gave way to a lot of counter attacks for Viborg, and if Ivana Jelcic had not had a brilliant afternoon in the Lokomotiva goal, things could have turned out even worse for the home side.

The left wings were the most successful scorers in the match. Viborg´s Maria Fisker was top scorer of the game with eight goals, though several of those were scored from a back court position, while Tea Grubisic hit the net six times for Lokomotiva.

IK Sävehof (SWE) vs Györi Audi ETO KC (HUN) 21:38 (8:20)

Györ set things up neatly top match of Group C against Viborg next Sunday, as they followed their nine-goal home win against Lokomotiva Zagreb in the first round with an even bigger win away against IK Sävehof.

Sävehof never even came near the surprise their left wing Louise Sand predicted towards efhCL.com ahead of the match.

Less than three minutes into the match Györ were leading 3:0, and the 1,315 spectators in Partillebohallen soon had to realise that the home team had no chance in that game. The many Hungarian fans in the hall did not regret this, of course.

From the early 3:0 lead and for the rest of the first half, an extremely well playing Hungarian team continued to increase their lead to an impressive 12 goals at half-time. Two time-outs by Sävehof coach Henrik Signell did not bring his team any closer.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Györ reduced their pace a little for a while, which allowed their opponents to somewhat reduce the gap, but only temporarily. Even though Györ coach Ambros Martin gave court time to several of his substitutes, the visitors managed to increase the lead again towards the end.

While Györ have maximum points after their first two matches, the result leaves Sävehof last in the group without any points.

Line player and Norwegian international Heidi Løke scored seven goals for Györ, five out of which were scored in the first half, while right win Jenny Wikensten scored five for Sävehof.