Källman shines as Szeged sink Celje to go top

Szeged overcame a slow start against Celje to brush aside their Slovenian rivals 27:22 and leap into the group’s pole position ahead of Sunday’s heavyweight clash between Kielce and Vardar.

• Szeged go top of Group B with comfortable win

• Jonas Källman pulls all the strings for Hungarian giants

• Luka Zvizej prolific for Celje which missed Blaz Janc

GROUP B:

MOL-Pick Szeged (HUN) vs RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko (SLO) 27:22 (15:10)

Szeged headed into the two-month winter break on a high note after a superb performance from their Swedish import, Jonas Källman, gave them a resounding home win over Celje on Saturday.

The visitors from Slovenia made a bright start but a furious 6:0 streak by the Hungarian giants midway through the first half turned the match for good.

Celje held their own well in the early stages as they carved out a two-goal lead (3:1 and 8:6) thanks to some inspired play by Ziga Mlakar, who carried a lot of weight on his shoulders due to the absence of their star player Blaz Janc.

However, a short lapse in Celje’s concentration was all Szeged needed to swing the match their way, scoring six unanswered goals to take a 12:8 lead with a barrage of fast breaks.

Källman was particularly impressive with five first-half goals, with Slovenian Stas Skube netting three from as many shots against his compatriots.

Janc’s absence began to bite at the other end of the court as Celje’s attack was ground to a halt.

Very brief revival

The second half produced more of the same as Szeged held their own comfortably, although Celje enjoyed a very brief revival shortly after the break when they slashed the deficit to three goals (16:13 and 18:15).

Aware that they needed to move up a gear in order to stay in their comfort zone, Szeged did exactly that as they upped the pace and restored their five-goal advantage (22:17).

Both teams seemed to go through the motions in the last 15 minutes as Szeged stayed on course and ran out easy winners, with Celje resigning to their fate.

Källman led Szeged with six goals, while Stas added five from as many shots and Matej Gaber, another Slovenian playing for the Hungarian side, chipped in with four.

Celje winger Luka Zvizej led all scorers with seven goals from seven attempts, Borut Mackovsek netted five and Mlakar finished with four.

Post-match statements:

Juan Carlos Pastor, Szeged coach: "We have won a very important match today. We made several mistakes in the first 20 minutes but the defence got together. The attitude was excellent today, but we have to improve the discipline on court."

Branko Tamse, Celje coach: "Today MOL-Pick Szeged were the better team, they deserved the victory. In the second half we tried several defensive formations, but we are aware that if we want to win away, we must play almost perfectly."

Stas Skube, Szeged centre back: "I was a very difficult win today even though we came in a very good form with four consecutive wins. In my opinion, we played good but we made several mistakes in attack, a lot of shots were missed."

Luka Zvizej, Celje left wing: "It was fantastic to play in this atmosphere today. My contract is expiring this year but we are negotiating for a new one already."