Buducnost appear unstopable, while Vardar overcome trouble in Croatia
Buducnost seem to be impossible to stop in Group B of the Women's EHF Champions League. On Sunday afternoon, the Montenegrin champions took their third clear win in succession, as they defeated Thüringer HC 27:22 away from home.
The other favourite in the group, WHC Vardar SCBT, had considerably more trouble in Koprivnica in Croatia, sealing a narrow 26:25 win against Podravka Vegeta.
GROUP B
Thüringer HC (GER) vs Buducnost (MNE) 22:27 (11:16)
Buducnost seem to be impossible to stop in Group B. The Montenegrin champions overcome a shaky start in the second half to secure their third clear win out of three, as their away fixture resulted in a 27:22 win against Thüringer HC.
After an tight start with German champions going up by one on several occasions, Buducnost took the upper hand from the middle of the first half, mainly thanks to their strong defence and a just as strong Clara Woltering in goal.
During the last part of the first half, Thüringer coach Herbert Müller chose to replace goalkeeper Jana Krause with a field player in the attack. Not only did this not bring the hosts closer to their opponents, but Buducnost made use of the missing goalkeeper to increase their lead to five goals at half time.
From the start of the second half, Herbert Müller changed tactics, and the first minutes after the break became the home team's best phase in the match scoring the first four goals of the second half, reducing the margin to only one goal at 15:16.
It was not until nine minutes into the second half that Katarina Bulatovic scored Buducnost's first goal after the break, making it 15:17 for the visitors.
Bulatovic's goal hitting the net only few seconds after Thüringer's Dutch line player Danick Snelder was suspended after her third two minute suspension.
That red card was a particularly severe blow to the hosts, partly as they only had 11 names on their team sheet from the start of the match, and partly as Snelder had been a great asset to the team up until that point with four goals to her name.
Having managed to start putting scores on the board again, Buducnost took control of the match.
Towards the end of the game, Müller returned to his intial tatics by replacing the goalkeeper with an extra field player, but this was again without success and Buducnost travelled home with a clear five-goal victory.
HC Podravka Vegeta (CRO) vs WHC Vardar SCBT 25:26 (13:11)
Vardar were in trouble for large parts of the match in the Sport Hall Fran Galovic in Koprivnica on Sunday afternoon, but in the end, the favourites took a narrow, but crucial one-goal victory home with them. Podravka shocked Vardar from the off and trotted up a clear 10:4 lead, before the visitors started to work themselves into the game.
Once they got their game going, Vardar were close to closing the gap before half time, being only one goal down at 12:11.
In the second half, Vardar seemed to begin to live up to their status as favourites, as Andrea Lekic pulled it level at 15:15 early in the second half. Jovanka Radicevic gave the visitors the lead putting them up 15:16 less than a minute later.
However, the home team refused to give in and got back into the lead again, going up by two goals at 21:19 with a bit more than ten minutes left.
In the final minutes, Vardar proved to be the stronger and more experienced team. Julija Nikolic gave the guests their first two goal lead, at 23:25, and despite Podravka's best attempts, Siraba Dembele's goal decided the matter bringing it to a 24:26 lead for Vardar with 44 seconds left on the clock.
With this win Vardar move into second position in the group after Buducnost. The Macedonian champions have four points after their first three matches, while Podravka are left at the bottom still to put points on the board.
TEXT: Peter Bruun / bc
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