Krim edge Nykøbing to earn first points

Playing on home court on Saturday, RK Krim Mercator have recovered from their season-opening defeat last week. The Slovenian side beat Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub by the smallest of margins, 27:26.

• Tjasa Stanko scores nine times for Krim, who earn important win

• Krim next meet Gdynia, while Nykøbing are up against CSM twice

GROUP A

RK Krim Mercator (SLO) vs NFH Nykøbing Falster Håndboldklub (DEN) 27:26 (15:15)

Last week’s 30:18 loss against CSM Bucuresti meant that Krim thoroughly needed a positive result against NFH on their home court.

It quickly emerged that the two sides were evenly matched as both teams had good attacks. While Krim scored goal after goal, the Danish visitors had an inspired Kristina Kristiansen who kept NFH on track.

With Krim taking a 15:13 lead with two minutes to go in the first part, NFH still tied the game at the buzzer to have both teams level going into the second half.

It was a game of cat and mouse after the break with both teams exchanging the lead three times in the last 15 minutes.

Mainly thanks to a magnificent game from Tjasa Stanko, who scored nine times, Krim earned a 27:26 win. Kristiansen was NFH’s best scorer with seven goals.

"We have raised our game in defence and we saw that clearly in the first half. At the end the rhythm was high so that led to us making some technical mistakes," Krim coach Uros Bregar said, adding that "some luck and the saves by Misa Marincek" were crucial in the end.

"It was a difficult match," Nykøbing coach Jakob Larsen said. "We were close all the time. We lost by three goals because of their goalkeeper."