Odense end Brest’s hopes of progressing

It has been a successful weekend for the Danish clubs playing in the Women’s EHF Champions League. After Kobenhavn had beaten Buducnost yesterday (Saturday 23 February), their rivals for the last remaining quarter-final spot, Odense HC, defeated Brest Bretagne Handball 29:24 today, eliminating the French team from further progression.

• Odense go level with Kobenhavn on eight points before the Danish derby in Odense next week
• Brest lost a chance to progress to the next round
• Ana Gros scored eight goals for the French side; Mette Tranborg and Kathrine Heindahl netted six times each for Odense

GROUP 1
Brest Bretagne Handball (FRA) vs Odense HC (DEN) 24:29 (13:13)

Without head coach Laurent Bezeau, replaced by assistant Romain Corre on the bench due to health issues, Brest had the better start of the game as they relied on their fast counter-attacks to build a solid advantage by the 12th minute (8:2).

However, Odense managed to improve their defence and started to catch up, ultimately drawing level at 12:12 after Stine Jorgensen’s penalty shot in the 28th minute in a 10:4 scoring run and the deadlocked score continued into the half-time break (13:13).

The first 10 minutes of the second period saw a tight fight but then Odense, who have more depth in their squad, started to pull clear.

Right back Mette Tranborg alongside line player Kathrine Heindahl had a special impact, propelling the visitors to a 24:19 lead by the 51st minute and then seeing out the remaining time, standing strong to claim the two points.

"We are very satisfied with the win,” said Odense coach Jan Pytlick. “We had a good defence which gave us some easy fast-break goals and after a not so good first half they fought their way back.

"The most important thing for us today is to have won outside of Denmark - at this level, there is still pressure, but we knew we had to win to have a chance to go to the quarter-finals.”

The result means that Odense can continue their Danish fourth-place duel with Kobenhavn, while, in-turn, bottom team Brest had their chances of progressing stopped as with two games for each team left in the group, Brest can reach six points – the same as both Danish sides, but with the two Scandinavian teams meeting in one of those final games, they are at least guaranteed seven points, too much for the French side to catch.