WIN FOR KOMETAL DP SECURES ENTRY INTO NEXT ROUND

TheMacedonian champions, Kometal DP Skopje, will continue into the next roundin Champion League after securing their place amongst the best eight with a32-20 (16-14) victory against HC “Motor” Zaporozhye. The former European Champions showed two differentsides in regards to their performance and effectiveness. 

For almost30 minutes, Kometal DP Skopje, it was clear that the team was under seriouspressure from the outsiders. Many mistakes were made, miss shots allowed the HC“Motor” to control the results. On several occasions, they managed to equalize.Even when Motor was down to only five field players, the still managed to scorevery easily. Borodina scored effortlessly from 9 meters and even an "aggressivedefence" could not stop her. Zaporozhye’swing player ZhannaKashel scored 5out of 5 when her chances arose. 

"Inthe first half we missed many clear chances, played bad defence and allowed“Motor” to equalize several times. When you play at home, all players like toassert, especially in full sports hall. The team needed to show more spirit,concentration and certain realisation. In the first 30 minutes, there were manypunctures in our defence,“ said Andriy Portnoy, coach of Kometal DP Skopje

WhenKometal DP Skopje changed their defence from 3-2-1 to 5-1 and began tochallenge the visitors more aggressively, things began to look up for the hometeam. Shortly after, Kometal increased their lead to 23-18 from 16-14; theywere finally showing the ambition to win. Nataliya Borysenko was back inaction, she saved five regular attempts, and one penalty shot. Yeliz Ozel andOlga Buyanova caused chaos to Motor's defence. Both were the "brains"between scoring and assisting.

In secondhalf Kometal allowed Motor to score only six goals. After Kashelj scored in 44min. (23-18), the Ukrainian players went 15 minutes without scoring. AnastasiyaBorodina ended their dry spell in the 59^th minute. Nevertheless, atthis late stage in the game, defeat was inevitable.

"Everythingwe practice, we use in our game. Most important for us is that all players arehealthy and can focus on the next game against Slagelse FH, this is the mostimportant thing for us” said Portnoy.

TheEuropean Champions, Slagelse FH, are the next opponents for Kometal DP Skopje.This game will decide who will be at the top of Group C and who will manage toavoid Krim Ljubljana from Group D in the quarterfinal.

Portnoyconfirmed his ambition to win in Denmark.

“This matchwill show who is better. We have beaten them already in Skopje, andtraditionally we play well against Danish clubs. Last year we lost, but we heldour own during the game. Our goal is to win in Denmark” - said Portnoy.

TheUkrainians arrived in Skopje with only 12 players. Six members of the teamremained in Zaporozhye due to injuries.

Text: GoranAntevski