Lokomotiva claim historic point after thriller

The 29:29 draw in Partillebohallen I Sweden Friday evening allows IK Sävehof as well as HC Lokomotiva Zagreb to go on dreaming of reaching the main round. The result meant the first point for both teams who are currently fighting for the third place in Group C.

GROUP C
IK Sävehof (SWE) vs HC Lokomotiave Zagreb (CRO) 29:29 (15:15)

The visitors from Croatia were leading most of the game, several times with three goals, but at the end, the match in Partillbohallen ended in a draw which gave both teams their first point in the Women's EHF Champions League this season.

For Lokomotiva Zagreb, it was even their first Champions League point in the history of the club, as the Croatian champions are debutants in the tournament this season.

Lokomotiva dominated the first half and got the far better start. After less than three minutes, the visitors were already leading 3:0.

They managed to hold on to that three goal lead for the first quarter of an hour, but three two minutes suspension within that same quarter of an hour were more than they could stand, and 16 minutes and eight seconds into the match, Sävehof playmaker Elin Karlsson could equalise to 8:8.

This was going to be the only time in the first half, apart from the half time result that the score was equal, though.

Being at full strength again, Lokomotiva recreated their three goal lead, but in the last minutes before half time, the home team managed to catch up again and get a stand-off at 15:15 after the first 30 minutes.

The hosts had their best period of the game at the beginning of the second half, where they got a couple of two goal leads, but those were the only leads they had in the match, as Lokomotiva soon took back the initiative and got ahead with three goals as late as at 27:24 with less than five minutes left.

Once again, Sävehof came back, though, and with two minutes and 40 seconds left, Jenny Alm equalised to 27:27.

The last minutes were close and dramatic with the score changing between a draw and a one goal lead for Lokomotiva, but at the end, one point for each team was the outcome.

For the home team, centre back Ida Oden contributed a lot to her team´s first point in their current Champions League campaign. No less than ten goals did the 27-year-old Swedish international score, while right wing Neli Irman was Zagreb's most scoring player with seven goals.