02.01.2008, 11:23
Zvezda draw in Togliatti

The Russian derby ended with a 27:27 draw in Togliatti with a last minute equaliser by Romenskaya.

Zvezda draw in Togliatti

Although Zvezda Zvenigorod already had a six-goal lead, the derby of the Russian championship in Togliatti ended with a 27:27 tie.

Just after Russia won gold medal at the World Championship in France, the Russian handball fans could enjoy top handball once again.

The great Russian derby was played in the Olimp hall of Togliatti in front of 2,000 spectators. Lada Togliatti welcomed Zvezda Zvenigorod in the 11th round of the Russian championship.

At the beginning of the match no team could take a significant lead and the result was still 5:5 in the 8th minute. After that Saidova made some great saves and thanks to her Zvezda took a 5-goal lead at 10:15. Lada managed to decrease the margin and Mocalina scored to make it 16:18 at the end of the first half.

In the second half Zvezda started increasing the margin again. In the 38th minute the result was 17:23 in favour of the guests. Nevertheless, the home team still did not surrender. Step by step they decreased the margin and in the 20th minute the result was 23:24 and it proved to be a heated game in the Olimp hall.

In the last minutes of the match Lada entered with a one goal lead (27:26). Two Saidova saves gave hope for the guest team and Romenskaya equalized in the last minute – 27:27 at the end.

Muravyeva and Postnova scored six goals for the home team and Mocalina was also great with 5 goals from 5 attempts. The decisive players of Zvezda were Saidova and Polenova. Saidova made 17 saves with an excellent percentage of 40 %, while Polenova scored 9 goals (5 of them from 7-m shots).

TEXT: Ivan Ambros