Vardar make short work of Hypo
It took Vardar only eleven minutes to decide the duel at Hypo.
The Austrian Champions League record winners were no more than a playing ball for one of the main contenders of the EHF Champions League.
GROUP C
Hypo Niederösterreich (AUT) vs HC Vardar Skopje (MKD) 25:38 (9:22)
The 22:27 opening home defeat against Györ was the impetus to prove Vardar’s aims for the season.
The 2014 and 2015 EHF Champions league finalists dominated Hypo Niederösterreich in Maria Enzersdorf.
After only eleven minutes, when line player Anja Althaus scored from 25 metres into the empty goal widening the gap to 8:1 for the Macedonian side, everything was said and done.
The Austrian record champions had enormous problems scoring against the Vardar defence, including strong goalkeeper Amandine Leynaud, while; on the other hand, the away team grabbed their chances, converting turnovers into counter-attack goals time and time again.
On the 15-minute mark, Hypo had score only three times, while Vardar – playing like a machine - were already on 12.
After losing the opener against FC Midtjylland by 12 goals, Hypo knew their fate before the break.
After 20 minutes the deficit was in double figures for the first time at 4:14.
The Macedonian champions were far ahead in all departments, from tactics, individual skills to power and speed.
And by taking the momentum from the start to the end, Vardar coaches Indira Kastratovic and Jan Pytlick could start to rotate their players early, giving playing time to all of the squad; seen in the score sheet in which nearly all court players plus goalkeeper Leynaud were listed.
While the winner was confirmed even before the 22:9 half-time score, Hypo showed some mettle drawing the second half.
On the other hand, the second 30 minutes for Vardar was nothing more than a training session, in which they took the opportunity to test out different tactics.
Goalkeeper Olga Sanko was the best Hypo player and Alzbeta Tothova was the top scorer with six goals.
TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc
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