05.11.2007, 02:34
First victory of Zvezda

The Russian champions were apparently tired against Savehof, but the team of Trefilov gained their first victory of the season.

First victory of Zvezda

CL debutants, Zvezda Zvenigorod, won their first CL match. The team of Evgeniy Trefilov defeated Savehof by 36:30 (15:14).

Great Andryushina

In the second round of Group B, two CL debutants met as Zvezda Zvenigorod played against Savehof in Chekhov. 2,500 spectators in Chekhov hall witnessed a surprising start from the Russian Champions. Zvezda entered the match with very poor defence and no ideas in attack.

Due to a great performance of the Swedish Grobbstrom in the goal, Zvezda had big problems in finishing their attacks. On the other hand, the Russian goalkeepers were helpless against the Swedish wings who scored many easy goals. That was the explanation of Savehof’s 7:10 lead in the 16th minute. The guests were still leading in the 26th minute by 10:14, but then Zvezda consolidated their defence and scored five consecutive goals to make it 15:14 for the break.

The decisive player of the home team was Andryushina in the first half.

Zvezda had problems with the best scorers of the Swedish side, Ahlm and Utkovic, after the break, but fortunately for them, the guests did not have enough strength for the rest of the game. In the 47th minute, the Russians took the lead 28:25 and from that point on the margin only increased. The match ended with a 36:30 score in favour of the home team.

Polenova scored 10 goals and Andryushina scored 7 for Zvezda. In Swedish team Grubbstrom had 18 saves and the best scorers were Ahlm with 9 and Utkovic with 7 goals.

Strenuous schedule for Russians

Coach of Savehof Björn Blamquist was satisfied with play of his team. He emphasised that his team is a young one, 21-year old in average. All of them are handball amateurs who played this match against professional handball players:

“I have to say that we fought hard and we did not give up until the very end,” commented the coach.

After a surprising draw against Nürnberg in Germany came a difficult victory against Savehof. Trefilov can be partially satisfied with three points gained, but he surely can not be satisfied with play of his team at this point.

After the match Trefilov gave an explanation:

“We had an extremely busy schedule. After the national team matches – we played the World Cup in Denmark – we had to play on Saturday in Nürnberg. Then we had to travel to Rostov for our Russian Championship match and already on Friday we had to play this match in Chekhov. But still, we have to admit that we did not play well. There were moments when our play collapsed and we will analyse these situations and work hard to improve,” he said. 

TEXT: Ivan Ambros