Nexe beat Ribe-Esbjerg to reach the group stage of the EHF Cup, Tatran Presov win the first match

Sasa Barisic Jaman

After losing the first match in Denmark, Nexe needed a big victory in Nasice to reach the group stage of the EHF Cup. The Croatian vice-champions played a terrific all-around match, and secured a 5-goal win, well enough to go through. The final result was 26:21, and Nexe achieved it by playing a phenomenal second half, scoring 15 and conceding only 10 goals in the second part of the match. They were able to stop the Danish team from scoring easy goals and dictating the tempo throughout the match. 

The captain Sasa-Barisic Jaman led his team to one of the most important wins in club's history with 6 goals. Marin Jelinic also had a big game with 5 goals and Kristian Pilipovic was excellent in goal with 13 saves. Vedran Zrnic, who had a huge game in Denmark despite a 29:26 loss and scored 8 goals, added 3 in this one. The players were especially happy with the support received from the stands, with over 2000 fans attending the match in Nasice.

Tatran Presov played the first match of the double-header against the Icelandic team Hafnafjordur and beat them 24:21. We were used to seeing some high-scoring matches recently with Tatran, and Slavko Goluza was very critical of his team's defensive performances lately. However, this time the Slovakian champions managed to concede only 21 goals, which is a good accomplishment. It was all tied up at half time with 11:11, but Tatran were the better team in the second one. Bruno Butorac continued his fine form with 6 goals and Lukas Urban was there with 5 more. On the other side, they had a tough time stopping Eidsson who scored 8. The next match is going to be played in Iceland, next Saturday, with Tatran entering the match with a 3 goal lead from this one.