Baia Mare devastate FTC to maintain unbeaten run

Thanks to a superb team effort and brilliant performances from Paula Ungureanu and Allison Pineau, HCM Baia Mare are back in the race for the quarter-finals after defeating FTC, whose defence was absent in Romania

GROUP 1

HCM Baia Mare (ROU) vs FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) 32:24 (16:14)

The sold-out Sala Polivalenta Lascar Pana provided a great atmosphere for this vital clash for the home side and helped by their thunderous home support Baia Mare took an early lead, finding themselves 7:5 up with barely 13 minutes on the clock.

Current Women’s EHF Champions League top scorer Allison Pineau inspired the home side to take advantage of the sloppy defending of FTC while Paula Ungureanu was excellent from start to finish between Baia Mare’s posts.

Ferencváros – coached for the first time in the Women's EHF Champions League since their coach Gabor Elek had been named as joint coach for the Hungarian women’s national team along with Ambros Martin of Gyor 72 hours earlier – managed to minimise the margin of difference after the half-time break and the visitors even had a chance to equalise but Baia Mare gathered momentum and once again left FTC standing.

Former IHF World Handball Player of the Year Pineau inspired her team, not just with her amount of strikes, but the timing of them, scoring crucial penalty shots whenever the Hungarians came close. Her overall 91% shot accuracy (10 goals from 11 shots) summed up the type of influence the centre back from France can have on games.

But it was not just Pineau, it was a great team effort from the Romanian team, and like previous weeks they played an outstanding team game and looked impressive against the unusually disorganised Hungarians.

The match promised to be an even encounter for the last 15 minutes but it was not to be and offered no thrills as the home side stepped up a gear to put down FTC, who had lost hope.

With the result Baia Mare maintained their unbeaten run in the Main Round and, for the first time, occupy a qualification spot in Group 1 in joint-third place on six points with Larvik, who have played a game less, while Ferencváros remain second on nine points.