Sunday thrillers in the Men's EHF Cup

A draw and an away win concluded the first round of the Men’s EHF Cup Group Phase on Sunday.

In Romania, HCM Constanta drew 28:28 with St. Petersburg KC, while Skjern returned to Denmark with a 25:23 away win in Serbia against HC Vojvodina.

Men’s EHF Cup Group Phase

Group B
HCM Constanta (ROU) vs St. Petersburg KC (RUS) 25:25 (13:10)

Neither a five-goal lead in the second half, nor ten goals from Dalibor Cutura were enough for Constanta to defeat St. Petersburg, and at the end of the game the home team had to be content with a draw

After an equal first quarter of an hour, Constanta began to build an advantage, taking a four-goal lead and eventually going three goals ahead at half-time.

Early in the second half, the hosts even managed to go five goals up at 17:12, but St. Petersburg managed to catch up again at 19:19, and with nine minutes left, the visitors even grabbed their first lead of the match at 21:20.

That lead was increased to two goals, but Constanta managed to close them down at the end and secure a point.

Group C
HC Vojvodina (SRB) vs Skjern Handbold (DEN) 23:25 (14:13)

Skjern were the better team in the deciding minutes of the match in Novi Sad and deservedly took a two-goal win with them home to Denmark on Sunday night.

Both teams had problems making their attacking play function from the beginning.

Based on a strong defence, however, Vojvodina soon managed to create a three-goal lead.

It did not take Skjern long to catch up and for the rest of the first half the teams took turns in leading by the odd goal, until it was the home team’s turn to lead at half-time.

The second half became just as tight as most of the first 30 minutes had been.

Spurred on by their enthusiastic home crowd, Vojvodina had a small upper hand most of the time, and as Skjern’s defence was weakened with a direct red card for Frederik Børm 14 minutes into the second half, the home team’s chances of winning appeared to have grown.

Nevertheless, Skjern managed to hang in with the Serbian's until the end and even managed to command a two-goal win after 60 minutes.