After last week’s MOTW defeat at Barça, Lomza Industria Kielce struck back on Wednesday, winning 30:28 at Aalborg Håndbold, in what was the first home defeat in the Machineseeker EHF Champions League since the 32:35 against Barça on 2 December 2020 for the hosts. Since then, Aalborg had won all eleven home matches before tonight. Goalkeeper Andreas Wolff played outstandingly for the victors, saving 13 shots, while Aalborg’s super star Mikkel Hansen did not have his best day, scoring only four goals from nine shots. Both sides are equal now on two points after three rounds. 

Group B: 

Aalborg Håndbold (DEN) vs. Lomza Industria Kielce (POL) 28:30 (15:17) 

• Aalborg had the upper hand in the first 20 minutes, but the 11:10 was their last advantage, the biggest gap before was three goals, at 9:6 
• Boosted by Wolff’s saves and three goals of Alex Dujshebaev, Kielce managed to turn the match around, leading 17:15 at the break 
• in the second half, Kielce profited from their extremely wide bench, using the full rotation of players and pulled ahead to 27:22 thanks to a strong streak by winger Arkadiusz Moryto 
• Aalborg showed morale, used their famous counter-attacks tp stop Kielce’s supremacy with a 5:2 run to make the score 27:29 with four minutes left 
• but finally, a turnover after a missed pass of Felix Claar, converted by Dani Dujshebaev to make it 30:27 decided the thrilling final stage of the match 

The bench as Kielce’s crucial factor 

Lomza Industria Kielce count on an extremely deep squad, composed of almost three star players for every position. And they used this full rotation at Aalborg to win a crucial match for the top positions in this equal group. Eleven players were on the scorers list, topped by six strikes from Arkadiusz Moryto. Six players scored three or more goals - from all positions. Definitely, Kielce are hard to defend with this variety in attack. Finally, the back court aces - the Dujshebaev brothers Alex and Dani and Igor Karacic - were the ones to score the crucial goals.