Newcomers crashed title defender in Zaporozhye

Stevan Vujovic

What an incredibile SEHA derby it was! After the tough 60 minutes on the court, Motor Zaporozhye secured spectacular win in the second round of the SEHA – Gazprom League against Vardar 32:31 (13:12).

The match started good for the home team. In the fifth minute, Motor Zaporozhye managed to secure their first lead in the match. For the big part of the first half, Ukrainian champions were in the lead, but not more than three goals wich they had in 9th minutes. After 30 minutes, Motor were up by one goal at the half-time. As soon as the second half stared, Daniil Shishkarev scored for Vardar and the team were tied. But, the home atmosphere took over and helped Motor to secure three-goals advantage.  

When Cupic scored after breakthrough in the 44th minute for equal (19:19) everything was pointing at dramatic ending. And so it was! Babichev scored for 24:21 for home team and six minutes before the end Gurkovsky scored for another three goals advantage for team from Zaporozhye. But after Vardar wings scored goals, Cupic from penalty and Dibirov from goal line, in the last five minutes of the match Motor had only one goal advantage. That's how it stayed until the end. But Vardar had excellent chance to equalize results. In the last seconds of the match Cupic missed 7 meters penalty. 

The best scorer in the home team was Barys Pukhouski with 6 goals, while Dener Jaanimaa scored 4 times for Motor. In the Vardar's squad, Timur Dibirov netted 6 times. Pavel Atman and Dainis Kristopans both scored 5 goals for the guest team. 

In the next round, Motor Zaporohye will host Beijing Sport University on the 25th of September. Vardar will also play on the home court in the third round against Croatian Nexe on the 24th of September.