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Rostov-Don scored a late goal to seal a nail-biting 24:23 win in group A of the DELO EHF Champions League against Vipers Kristiansand on Wednesday evening.
With only one round to go, Vipers, who were undefeated in the DELO EHF Champions League before Saturday, are fifth in the standings, while Rostov-Don jumped to first place.
GROUP A
Vipers Kristiansand (NOR) vs Rostov-Don (RUS) 23:24 (16:15) (match played in Erd, HUN)
- after losing two matches against FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria, on Saturday and Monday, Vipers were playing their third consecutive game in Hungary due to the current restrictions in Norway
- a 76 percent shooting efficiency lifted Vipers to a 16:15 lead at the break, despite Rostov boasting a 5:1 run in the end of the half to take back the lead, 15:14, with two minutes to spare
- Rostov’s two top scorers in the competition, right back Anna Vyakhireva and right wing Iuliia Managarova, combined for four goals to inspire a 5:0 run for the Russian side, who took a 20:17 lead after 41 minutes
- after combining for 31 goals in the first half, the two sides only scored 16 goals in the second part, with neither of them hovering above 50 percent in attack efficiency
- Nora Mørk scored four goals in the game but went off injured with two minutes to go in the match
- with one round to go, Rostov-Don (19 points) lead the standings and will host FTC in their last match, while Vipers (14 points) are fifth
Vipers suffer disappointing results in Hungary
Three matches in Hungary in only five days provided three losses for Vipers Kristiansand. It was another case of their attack underperforming, with a meagre 43 percent efficiency practically deleting Katrine Lunde’s amazing game – 17 saves for a 41 per cent efficiency.
Vipers' morale potentially took another hit when their players saw influential right back Nora Mørk hobbling off with what looked like another injury.
TEXT: EHF / Adrian Costeiu
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