Tatran secures a clear win in Strumica

Струмица немаше сили, Татран сигурен до првата победа

Maks Strumica - Tatran Prešov

Slovak champions Tatran Prešov needed only 20 minutes to crush Strumica’s resistance and reach an away 31:24 win in Macedonia in their first match of the season.

Hosts have opened the match well despite of playing without their best player Revaz Chaturija playing patiently and taking control of the match. However, their 3 missed penalties on 4:2 have allowed Tatran to stabilize and take the initiative. Coach Andonov had no answer for Slovak backs and their playmaker and guests were slowly with 6:1 series enlarging the hap. By half-time they were up by 4 and at the beginning of the second half winner has already been decided.

Tatran Prešov have showed excellent fast breaks, using every home technical mistake for an easy goal.

Dejan Pecakovski was with 9 goals home team’s best scorer with Slaviša Dimitrievski adding 7 and Blagojce Trajkovski finishing the match with 9 saves. Considering Tatran, their goal keepers have gathered 16 saves and Čip scored 7 goals.

In the next round Maks Strumica will play two-time champions Vardar and Tatran will host Spartak.

Rastislav Trtik, Tatran’s coach:

I am pleased with the result but not with player’s performances. We were forced to change our defence from 6-0 to 5-1 and in the end to 4-1. In the future we still have much space to improve our game.

Andreј Petro, Tatran's player:

First half was played ‘goal-by-goal’. We were not focused enough in the opening, it was really hard to play especially after a long journey but the second half has proved we’re at the moment better tactically prepared than our today’s opponents.

Marjan Andonov, Maks Strumica’s coach:

In general they were better. We've started better than in previous matches but did not use that well beginning. Our scoring percentage was also pretty poor today and I hope we'll play better in future because I know we can.  

Dejan Pecakovski, Maks Strumica’s player:

We played poorly with to many misses and technical mistakes. We have to improve our game for future challenges, especially considering many technical mistakes.