Kielce with win of the season over Kolding

KS Vive Tauron Kielce produced arguably their best performance of the season in the VELUX EHF Champions League in a resounding away win over KIF Kolding Kobenhavn on Sunday. The result left the Polish champions well-positioned to reach the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition, while they will also hope to challenge for a top-two finish in their section.

GROUP B
KIF Kolding Kobenhavn (DEN) vs KS Vive Tauron Kielce (POL) 25:33 (13:12)

Following patchy performances in the opening six rounds, Kielce sank Kolding with a flawless display in the last 15 minutes of a fast-paced encounter, as they wore down the Danish side’s danger-man Lasse Andersson. The promising young left back finished with seven goals from 14 shots.

A tight first half ended the home team’s way after Andersson, who netted his opening two shots and missed the next four, drilled in a thunderbolt from 10 metres on the buzzer to give his side a slender lead. The 21-year-old kept up the pressure in the early stages of the second half, scoring his sixth goal to give Kolding a 17:16 advantage, but it turned out to be their last roar.

Propelled by the Croatian duo, Denis Buntic and Ivan Cupic, the visitors opened up a two-goal advantage (22:20) after a fantastic team move, garnished with a pair of no-look passes, which in turn, sent the entire Kolding defence the wrong way.

Kielce never looked back, as the evergreen Karol Bielecki kept converting penalty shots and those from the perimetre with ruthless efficiency.

With Andersson stifled, Kolding relied on Magnus Landin Jacobsen to stay afloat but his valiant efforts were futile as Kielce’s deep roster fired from all points in the closing stages, while the home side had clearly run out of steam.

Bielecki finished with seven goals from nine shots, Cupic and Buntic chipped in with five goals each, while Michal Jurecki added four, steering Kielce to a precious and morale-boosting victory.

Jacobsen scored five goals from five attempts for Kolding and Lukas Karlsson netted five from 11, but the Danish side’s most experienced player, Bo Spellerberg, will soon want to forget a tough afternoon, in which he was scoreless from his six shots on goal.