Motor dominate Kadetten to clinch play-off berth

Despite being closely man marked for periods of the match, Bary Pukhouski scored 12 goals, as HC Motor Zaporozhye defeated Kadetten Schaffhausen on Saturday.

The Swiss side cannot now progress to the VELUX EHF Champions League play-offs.

HC Motor Zaporozhye (UKR) vs Kadetten Shaffhausen (SUI) 31:23 (13:9)

The importance of the match apparently affected both teams who started rather nervously as they struggled in front of goal.

Both teams defended aggressively with Kadetten even man marking Motor´s Belarussian playmaker, Barys Pukhouski, who still was able to make a contribution to the home side's performance throughout the first half.

Motor managed to find solutions and through a free-throw after the half-time buzzer, Sergii Burka gave the home side their largest lead until that point, 13:9.

Seven minutes and 39 seconds into the second half, with the score at 16:13, Kadetten´s Hungarian playmaker, Gabor Csaszar, was sent off, and for the rest of the match the Swiss attack had serious problems compensating for the handicap.

At the same time, Motor´s attacking play became more fluent, and the hosts added to their lead winning by eight goals in the end.

While Pukhouski scored 12 goals for Motor, Kadetten's top scorer was left wing, Manuel Lininger who scored seven times.

Whilst Motor moved onto 14 points and qualified for the play-offs, Kadetten lost their last chance to progress after losing in Ukraine.

The Swiss champions can still reach a total of 11 points, level with second placed, Skjern Handbold, but as the Danish team has a better head to head record between the two teams, Kadetten cannot proceed.