Plock take second win; Szeged, Kolstad pick up first points

• a strong defence and 13 saves by goalkeeper Andreas Palicka delivered a first win for Kolstad as they beat Dinamo Bucuresti 31:28
• Orlen Wisla Plock confirmed their status as a team to watch this season with a 30:27 victory against HC Zagreb, and temporarily lead group B
• Szeged looked comfortable as they handed GOG their second defeat of the season (31:36)
• Croatian right wing Mario Sostaric netted 12 times for Szeged
  
  

GROUP A

Kolstad Håndball (NOR) vs Dinamo Bucuresti (ROU) 31:28 (17:10)

H2H: 1-0-0
Top scorers: Sigvaldi Björn Gudjonsson (Kolstad Håndball) 6/8, Nicusor Negru (Dinamo Bucuresti) 5/6

Kolstad did not waste any time in putting their opponents under pressure. After just three minutes, Dinamo were already four goals down and had already used their first timeout. Between the Norwegian posts, Andreas Palicka was really the man of the moment. Pulling off one crazy save after the other, the Swedish goalkeeper helped his team keep the momentum throughout the first half. And it was only thanks to their own goalkeeper, Ionut Iancu, and his seven saves that Dinamo were only down by seven at the break. Injury to Simen Lyse did not stop Kolstad’s dynamics after the break, especially as Palicka remained in form. Still down by seven goals with 15 minutes, Dinamo threw everything into the game and changed their defence to a half-court system, helping them close the gap to three goals. However, this was not enough to prevent Kolstad from taking their first victory of the season.

GROUP B

GOG (DEN) vs OTP Bank - PICK Szeged (HUN) 31:36 (16:18)

H2H: 1-0-2
Top scorers: Mario Sostaric (OTP Bank - PICK Szeged) 12/12, Nicolai Pedersen (GOG) 8/12

After both GOG and Szeged lost their first-round games last week, there was a sense that both were fired up for Wednesday’s match — but clearly Szeged bounced back better. With the help of Tobias Thulin between the posts, the visitors had already gathered a four-goal advantage after five minutes. The visitors remained on top throughout the first half, even though their hosts managed to close the gap multiple times. But only once did they briefly take the lead, in the 13th minute. Things remained the same in the second half, with GOG pushing but Szeged always keeping a lead of two or three goals. Mario Sostaric proved to be critical to this, scoring 12 overall, while backcourt players Borut Mackovsek and Imanol Garciandia were also in the spotlight. And despite Nicolai Pedersen delivering his best ever Champions League performance, with eight goals for GOG, the Danish side proved to be too clumsy in the money-time to be able to turn things around.

Orlen Wisla Plock (POL) vs HC Zagreb (CRO) 30:27 (17:13)

H2H : 2-3-4
Top scorers : Mitja Janc (Orlen Wisla Plock) 6/7, Ihar Bialiauski (HC Zagreb) 7/10

Being the best scorer of the EHF Champions League after one round can certainly give you a boost of confidence — or at least this seemed to be the case for Plock right back Melvyn Richardson. Taking seven shots in the first quarter of the game alone, and scoring three, the French left-hander helped Plock to a five-goal lead early in the game. And while Zagreb did try their best to shorten the gap, every single of their turnovers was turned into a goal at the opposing end, leaving Plock comfortably ahead throughout most of the game. The visitors fought back to within one goal in the middle of the second half, thanks to Ihar Bialiauski’s excellent performance, but Gergö Fazekas and Mitja Janc did just enough to keep Wisla on top until the final whistle.

Photos © @hsnlau//Lau Nielsen, Lars Rune Skaug, Jerzy Stankowski