Tradition continues as Vardar beat PPD Zagreb in Skopje

Традицијата продолжува, на домашен терен Вардар е подобар од ППД загреб

Vardar - PPD Zagreb

Vardar remains undefeated in SEHA Gazprom League at home this season, after fourth game, celebrating over PPD Zagreb with 32-31 (19-16). Macedonian team remains leader with three wins and one draw as the tradition of duels between these two teams in which hosts win continues.

Vardar were ahead most of the time but fans were given a chance to see a thriller ending with Rakovic scoring to bring guests on -1 less than a minute before the end.

However, Luka Cindric was focused and cold-blooded scoring a winner with just enough time left on the clock for PPD Zagreb to get back to only -1. 

Vardar have managed to extend the gap in first 30 minutes to 3 but Zagreb has proved to be ready to fight until the end reaching 22:22 after 10 minutes of the second half. After that Vardar was able to stay in control until the final minute.


Raul Gonzalez, Vardar`s coach:

It was a very tough game with a close score. It is always hard to play against Zagreb because they have a good team and a very good coach. We were good in attack during the first half, but we weren’t so good in defense. In the second half it was the same and it was an open game until the last minute. We've spent lot of energy against Veszprém, but the main thing is we got three points we needed to stay at the top. Now we have to continue to work hard for EHF Champions League matches.


Igor Karacic, Vardar`s player:

As our coach said, at the beginning our defense wasn’t so strong like in the game against Veszprem and they scored many times. It was hard to keep the same level of shape at this time of the season. We were 4 goals ahead and they managed to cut our lead in the last minute. We will continue with hard work and I believe we'll reach our best form just before the most important matches of the season.


Veselin Vujovic, PPD Zagreb`s coach:

Congratulations to the team of Vardar on a deserved victory. They were ahead throughout the game and we were always 1 - 2 steps behind them. It is obvious that both teams are not in their best form and we have to continue to train hard and reach the level that we want. I’m not completely pleased with my team's performance, but today we've played our first of four scheduled games against Vardar. I also want to thank home team fans for the atmosphere and especially for showing me that they did not forget me.


Dobrivoje Markovic, PPD Zagreb's player:

Vardar deserve this win, they were better than us and I wish them successful season both in SEHA Gazprom League and EHF Champions league.