Telekom Veszprem celebrated fourth win in SEHA GAZPROM League 2016/2017 by beating Slovenian RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko, once again, 32:25 (17:13). Despite visitors at „Veszprem Arena“ were eager to show the best of their handball, home team coached by Xavi Sabate had control over the result from the first minute of the match. The first line-up of the reigning SEHA GAZPROM champions with Ilic, Palmarsson and Nagy supported by oustanding Roland Mikler (15 saves) between the posts made 6:1 in the opening seven minutes of the match.
Celje’s coach Branko Tamse found the way to put his team back in the game, but even solid performance of Zarabec, Mlakar and Lesjak on the goal line, wasn’t enough for some surprising turnover. Slovenians came closer on 9:7 in 15th minute, but they aren’t able to save their net in the crucial moments.
Dragan Gajic and Renato Sulic overtook the main roles in Veszprem’s attack in the second half from Aron Palmarsson and Gasper Marguc. Creativity of Celje’s attack was visible until 45th minute, when Miha Zarabec netted for 24:21. However, Slovenian team had no power to finish match in the same rhytm. Some technical mistakes gave chance to home team to score some easy goals via young left wing Fekete for 32:25 at the end.
Dragan Gajic was TOP scorer in the winning team with six goals, while one more scored Celje’s right back Ziga Mlakar.
Statements after the match:
Xavi Sabate, Telekom Veszprem coach:
– I want to congratulate to our players and team for such a good match after only one training which we had to prepare for this game. I would also like to congratulate to Celje for very good start of the season – results and way of playing. Celje play very good handball, they have one of the best fast-breaks in Europe. We had some injuries during last week. Terzic couldn’t play today and he is very important for us in defense. Players showed commitment with the team, club, team-mates and supporters. We played high-level match in defense and Mikler was amazing one more time. Key for success was in defense, with good Roli and fast-breaks. We played good in attack, especially with all our line-players. I am proud of our players. We are working very hard with young Hungarian players. Young Fekete was fantastic today. They have to continue working as this season is very important for us.
Branko Tamse, RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko coach:
-I want to congratulate Veszprem for a good match.They were prepared well for us. Their defense forced us to take some difficult shots and to make some mistakes in attack. There were some minutes when I was happy for the way how we play, but tonight Veszprem had a lot of good minutes.
RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko player:
– I would like to congratulate Veszprem on a good game. We haven’t been on the level which we should to play with them. Our defense wasn’t good enough, while in attack we missed too many open shots. Mikler saved many shots and then, with counter-attack, they made advantage.
Gasper Marguc, Telekom Veszprem right wing:
– My coach already said a lot. I agree with all speakers, we played good today, especially in defense. Mikler was really good, we ran a lot of fast-breaks. We are happy that we had match under control. We are happy for new points. Now, we are focusing on weekend and match in Plock.
