VOLGOGRAD JUST MISS OUT

After Viborg had beaten Nordstrand on Saturday in group A, DinamoVolgograd needed not only to beat Hypo Niederösterreich, but they actually hadto win on Sunday by as many as 8 goals in order to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Gunnar Prokop, manager of Hypo Niederösterreich, was well aware of thedifficult task for his team and the delegation travelled to Volgograd on Fridayin order to give coach Mile Isakovic and the players an extra day of restingafter a long trip.

About 4000 spectators witnessed quite an equal start to the game,however, after 20 minutes of the first half, Dinamo led by 9 to 6 goals andstarted to look better and better. Hypo Niederösterreich changed the goalkeeperand a number of saves by Paula Radulescu brought the guest team back into thegame and the score at halftime was almost levelled at 13:12 for Dinamo.

Local coach Lev Akopian was away from histeam during most of the season because of an illness, but his long experienceon an international level paid off in the half-time. More aggressive play in attackput a lot more pressure on Hypo Niederösterreich and it didn’t take too long tosee the home team in advance by six goals (20:14 after 42 minutes). On top ofthis, Hypo’s Tatjana Shinkarenko left the game after 44 minutes with a red cardafter her third 2-min. penalty. There was finally a seven goal deficit for theguest team after 47 min. (23:16) and again after 52 min. (25:19). However, tofeel the impossible become reality, the home team experienced  a few nervous moments and was not able toconvert some easy shots from the wing position giving Hypo a chance to manageto limit the deficit to seven goals all the way to the end of the game.Volgograd once again got possession of the ball with a few seconds left on theclock and the result at 30:23, but all efforts finally just came a few momentstoo late.

The closest possible result finally puts Hypo Niederösterreich on rank 2behind Viborg and into the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the firsttime again after five years. Dinamo Volgograd got eight points in six matchesand still only earned third place on goal difference and will continue in theCupwinners’ Cup.

The Champions League quarter-final in March will see HypoNiederösterreich playing the first leg at home against old rival Ikast Bording(Denmark). After winning group B and after having beaten Hypo in last season’sCupwinners’ Cup final, the Danish team with world class goalkeeper KarinMortensen is probably to be seen as a slight favourite. However, there will belot of tension in the air as Hypo Niederösterreich is looking for revenge …

Text: EHF