01.12.2012, 12:30
Prešov want to finish the job in style

Slovakian champions are planning to confirm their progress to the Men´s EHF Cup Group Phase and please their fans in the second leg of the Round 3 match against Banja Luka.

Prešov want to finish the job in style

Winning the first match by 11 goals in Bosnia against RK "Borac m:tel" Banja Luka (36:25), Tatran Prešov have everything in their own hands to make it for the second consecutive time into the top sixteen of the European Cup competition. Given the advantage from the first leg of EHF Cup Round 3 and recent win over their Bosnian counterpart in the SEHA League at home, everything but a home win will be a big suprise on Saturday in City Hall in Prešov, Slovakia.

Prešov competing in three competitions (EHF Cup, SEHA League and Slovakian Tipsport Extraliga) will play fourth match in a week, but as Dominik Krok says, a good team must cope even with such difficult schedule.

"Travelling is tiring of course and it does not add to the fitness of the players. We travelled ten hours to Banja Luka, then around eleven hours to Skopje, 14 hours of night journey back to Slovakia for a league match. But we are mentally strong as a team, like challenges and we are looking forward to every match,“ he said.

Krok was one of the leading scorers for Tatran in the first match. Still a youngster amongst experienced colleagues, Dominik grabbed his chance, scored seven goals and helped Prešov gain important win on their way to the EHF Cup Group Phase.

"Before the match in Banja Luka, I was not feeling very well on the pitch, I wasn´t scoring as many goals as I used to and even my play was not ideal. Those seven goals in the first match helped me a lot, had a good match afterwards in Skopje, scored four goals, despite we lost, I feel I am getting into good form and if I get the chance on Saturday I will do my best to help the team progress. We made a good result in the first match, now it´s time to prove our qualities in front of our fans,“ said Dominik Krok for eurohandball.com.

Both teams know each other very well. They met in Prešov in SEHA League eaerlier this month (10 November) when Prešov took a convincing 29:22 victory. Despite two big margin wins, they know, that underestimation is not on the program on Saturday.

"Every match has it´s own story. We have lost last year against them in the SEHA league at home by four goals, therefore we have to stay focused. They are unpredictable team. They did not have a good day at home, but you never know what can happen in the return leg. We want to beat them again, we definitely cannot underestimate them. We want to play our best handball, please our fans. We are very close to the place in the group stage,“ added Dominik Krok for eurohandball.com.  

The winner of the clash will be seeded in the first pot on 6 December during the EHF Cup Group Phase draw in Belgrade.
 

TEXT: Tomáš Čunčík / br