Narrow wins for Kielce and Vardar

For at least 24 hours KS Vive Tauron Kielce can enjoy what it feels like on top of the Group B table, as they move up to 17 points alongside FC Barcelona Lassa after winning the thrilling VELUX EHF Champions League Match of the Week against Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Over in Skopje, it was harder than they might have expected, but Vardar ground out a valuable home victory against IFK Kristianstad, staying in contention to finish in the top half of the fiercely competitive group by finally clinching their Last16 berth.

GROUP B
Vive Tauron Kielce (POL) vs Rhein-Neckar Löwen (GER) 28:27 (12:10)

A final save from goalkeeper Slawomir Szmal prevented the Polish side from having to settle for a draw after they were ahead 28:25 one minute before the end.

Following the draw in the first leg, the Polish champions won Saturday’s direct encounter against Löwen, who now seem to be out of the race for the top position as they remain on 15 points with the prospect of their final group phase match at Barcelona.

“I am happy and satisfied with the win, but we made life awkward for ourselves in the final stages. Now it is our major goal to secure second position in this group, but we have it in our hands to take the top,” said Kielce’s Germany EHF EURO 2016 champion Tobias Reichmann.

Both sides missed some key players in the ehfTV.com Match of the Week. Kielce had to replace their long-term injured stars Grzegorz Tkaczyk and Mariusz Jurkiewicz, while Löwen arrived in Poland without Patrick Groetzki and defence chief Gedeon Guardiola.

In addition, Löwen coach Nikolaj Jacobsen started with a surprising line-up, leaving his key players Uwe Gensheimer, Andy Schmid and Kim Ekdahl du Rietz on the bench for almost the whole first half.

“Uwe is still not fit due to his Achilles problems, and Andy needed some time to rest,“ Jacobsen explained his measures, adding: “A draw would have been deserved for us, as we fought strong and challenged Kielce for 60 minutes.”

Gensheimer arrived on court only for penalty shots and failed twice against his former team mate Slawomir Szmal, while Schmid only played as ‘libero’ when his team were shorthanded.

Thanks to Karol Bielecki’s long-distance goals and Szmal’s saves, the Polish champions were ahead for almost the entire first half. But when Lowen trailed 5:8 Jacobsen took his first time-out, and his players clearly understood his words as they soon equalised.

Dujshebaev was clearly running on adrenaline on the side-line, in what was a match dominated by two combative defensive sides and strong goalkeepers, Szmal and Borko Ristovski.

Kielce’s Reichmann was still full of confidence after Germany’s victory at the EHF EURO, and proved his worth with his ice-cold converted penalties.

At 10:10, Löwen had several chances to take the lead, but failed against Szmal. The consequence was Kielce’s double strike right before the halftime buzzer to be ahead 12:10.

As Löwen missed some more 100 per cent chances in the initial stages of the second half, Kielce forged ahead to their first four-goal advantage at 17:13, and the fans in the stands responded by creating a frenzied atmosphere.

But still nothing was decided in this crucial duel. With ten minutes on the clock, Löwen were back on track when Spaniard Rafael Baena equalised for 20:20 and all started at zero again.

Jacobsen still had his jokers Schmid and Gensheimer on the bench, while on the other side EURO All-star Michal Jurecki broke the spell to score for the first time after eight missed shots.

Until the score board showed 24:24, nearly every shot was a goal. Then Löwen missed two chances, Kielce scored a triple strike thanks to their Croatian wings Ivan Cupic and Manuel Strlek, and at last the encounter seemed to be decided when Krzystof Lijewski netted for 28:25 90 seconds before the final buzzer.

But Löwen did not surrender. The hosts missed three chances while the German side struck twice – and held possession for the final attack. Three seconds before the end, Szmal saved a Schmid shot, and Baena’s equaliser came seconds too late after the final buzzer.  

HC Vardar (MKD) vs IFK Kristianstad (SWE) 38:36 (21:19)

Vardar fans were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief after their team conjured a narrow win over VELUX EHF Champions League debutants Kristianstad, who pushed their more heralded rivals all the way in an action-packed contest on Saturday.

It seemed the Macedonian giants would stroll through the match after Jorge Maqueda Pena and Luka Cindric steered them to an 11:6 lead midway through the first half.

However, the visitors showed plenty of grit and determination to haul themselves back into the match, doing well to keep the deficit down when they were a man short, before they went on a 6:3 run which reduced the score line to 13:16

The goalkeepers hardly made a save at either end in a goal-infested first half, which ended with the home side taking a narrow lead into the locker room.

Led by Cindric and Maqueda, who netted four goals each in the opening period, Vardar had 10 different scorers by the interval while battling Kristianstad had nine.

The second half was almost a carbon copy of the first, as Vardar pulled away to 24:19 but were unable to seal their victory until the final few minutes.

Kristianstad replied with another spirited comeback which allowed them to draw level at 32:32, setting up a dramatic finish in the noisy Jane Sandanski Arena.

The home side had the final say however, as their Russian winger Danii Shishkarev drilled in the game’s final goal from a tight angle with only 10 seconds left on the clock.

Cindric led Vardar’s charge with eight goals from nine shots and Sergei Gorbok, who had a fine second half, added seven from nine.

The prolific Kristian Bjornsen and Iman Jamali scored seven each for Kristianstad, who now face an uphill struggle to leapfrog Montpellier into sixth position if they hope to reach the knock-out stages.  

"The atmosphere was really lovely, so I'm glad that we played well here," said Jamali. "However, in the end we lost in the last two minutes which happens several times this season in the Champions League. I think that we have a lack of experience and we have to work hard to improve it for our next matches."