Kielce come from behind to win in Brest
In the first leg of the Belarusian-Polish side's duel in the VELUX Champions League Last 16, Vive Kielce come away with four-goal win in Brest.
The second leg will take place on 26 March in Kielce.
HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) vs KS Vive Tauron Kielce (POL) 28:32 (14:12)
Vive’s head coach Talant Dujshebaev modestly said before the game that his team was the slight favourite ahead of this tie.
Brest believed in their good luck. In particular, they relied on their devoted fans who provided great support during the C+D play-off home game against Denmark’s Skjern.
Two of the HC Meshkov players, Dzmitry Nikulenkau and Rastko Stojkovic, knew the opponent quite well as they had both played for Kielce in the past.
While Nikulenkau had his time in Poland quite long ago, Stojkovic’s memories of Vive were relatively fresh as he wore their colours from 2009 to 2013.
And it was Stojkovic (Brest’s top scorer in the VELUX Champions league in this season) who scored the first goal against his former teammate Slawomir Szmal.
It was not easy for the hosts to beat the Polish goalkeeper, but they tried very hard.
During the first ten minutes, the game was equal.
But after that, Brest gradually took the initiative.
In the middle of the half, they were leading by three goals (10:7).
The players coached by Sergey Bebeshko defended very well, their goalkeeper Vitali Charapenka occasionally made great saves, and in attack, Rastko Stojkovic and Pavel Atman looked very determined and motivated.
But after the break, Talant Dujshebaev surprised his opponents by replacing Slawomir Szmal with Marin Sego in the goal.
That decision proved to be quite effective as Brest scored their first goal in the second half only in the 37th minute.
By that time, Kielce managed to come back and take the lead (15:14).
Karol Bielecki and Michal Jurecki were especially good for the men in yellow during that part of the game.
Yet Brest fought very hard to restore their advantage, which made the game tight and spectacular.
For a long stretch of time, none of the teams could lead by more than one goal.
But when Bielecki made the score 23:21 for Vive, Sergey Bebeshko asked for a timeout.
Brest’s coach desperately tried to change something. He tried using two line players, changing the defense from 6-0 to 5-1, replacing Vitali Charapenka in the goal first with Dzmitry Patotski, and then with Ivan Pesic, but all these measures did not work.
In the end, Vive deservedly won by four goals.
Pavel Atman was the top scorer for Brest with seven goals, while Michal Jurecki scored as many as ten times for the Polish side.
“In each game, we try to find the antidote for our opponents.
“But Vive are one of the best European teams.
“Unfortunately, our goalkeepers did not help much in the second half. We also missed two penalties and a number of great chances. Yet we have a chance in the return leg,” commented the head coach of HC Meshkov Brest, Sergey Bebeshko, after the tie.
While Talant Dujshebaev is content but cautious looking ahead to the return leg: "I am satisfied with the result. But we expect hard home game.
"I'd like to congratulate Brest, its management and spectators for the excellent atmosphere and performance today."
TEXT: Sergey Nikolaev / bc
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