Heartbreak for Grundfos Tatabánya KC: the bottom-ranked team in EHF European League group D did well to get a surprise 25:21 win over HC Eurofarm Pelister on Tuesday, but still went out of the race for a Last 16 berth.
Rivals AEK Athens also won their match, and as the Greek side have the head-to-head advantage, Tatabánya cannot finish better than fifth in the group.
GROUP D
Grundfos Tatabnáya KC (HUN) vs HC Eurofarm Pelister (MKD) 25:21 (11:11)
- Pelister will likely advance to the Last 16, but this defeat made them wait for confirmation
- Tatabánya now have six points in group D, but cannot finish better than fifth regardless the results in round 10 next week
- in a game where defences prevailed over attacks, Marko Kizic had eight saves for Pelister
- Stipe Mandalinic scored 10 goals, almost half of Pelister’s total production
- Stefan Sunajko scored eight times for Tatabánya
Efficiency is the key word
Pelister’s clear defeat had one main reason: their shooting efficiency got stuck at 55%. They surprisingly failed to claim their Last 16 berth on Tuesday but will likely do so later. For the hosts, the win came too late to save their European season, despite the duo of Stefan Sunajko and Matyas Gyori shining again with a combined 15 goals from 16 efforts.
I am really proud of my team. We did almost everything what the coach asked us to do and we stuck to our game plan.
