Vardar solidify the top spot against Tatran, Maqueda scores 7 with 6 assists
Vardar si upevnil pozíciu lídra proti Tatranu, Maqueda zaznamenal 7 gólov a 6 asistencií
Vardar have managed to solidify their position on SEHA Gazprom League’s top ahead of international break celebrating in Presov over Tatran with 35:29 (17:15).
It is well known that it is never easy to play against Tatran in Presov and it was once again visible with hosts opening the match in a much better manner and keeping the minimum lead all the way until a bit more than 10 minutes before the half-time whistle with Maqueda bringing guests first lead at 8:9. However, until the end of first 30 favored Macedonians were not able to enlarge the gap to more than 2 despite of having remarkable Angelov between posts who has managed to reach double digit saves (10) in only first half. Karacic was in a good mood scoring 3 goals with 5 assists and Maqueda was also on a high level with 4/4.
Unfortunately for home fans, Tatran were not able to keep up with flying Macedonians for long in the second half with Cupic enlarging the gap to 7 only 6 minutes into the second half. Maqueda posted an amazing performance scoring 7 goals and adding 6 assists along with uncatchable Dibirov who has finished the match with 8. By all that Angelov was on a high level with 15 saves and there was no way for hosts to stun League’s leaders. Peskov and Cip were leading Tatran scoring 6 both with Brazhnyk and Chupryna combining for 11 saves.
Rastislav Trtik, Tatran coach:It was an interesting game for spectators and handball experts in TATRAN Handball Arena. Both teams have played in a good pace. It was a tough, but fair match. Fans could admire skills of players like Canellas, Dereven or Cindric. Vardar have a huge shooting power in attack, which they did prove on the court. Every mistake of our players was punished by Vardar and their counter-attacks. This is Vardar's biggest strength. They play simple, but very efficient handball. It was a great experience for us to play them. We are glad we've managed to keep up with them and force them to play an excellent game against our team. We are not naive. We know they did not play this game in full strength. Despite of that I really appreciate the high level of the match.
Igor Chupryna, Tatran goalkeeper:
Congratulations to Vardar on a well-deserved victory. We wanted to show our fans and Vardar nice handball. We've played an excellent game in the first half but the start of the second one was not good for us and Vardar managed to extend their lead. Finally they controlled the game until the end. We have a lot of games ahead of us so we have to prepare thoroughly.
Raul Gonzales, Vardar coach:
Congratulations to Tatran because they've played a really good game. It was a tough game for us. We knew that last year we've had big problems here in Presov so we prepared for the game very well. We've started the match with 1-5 defense. Our goalkeeper was perfect in the first half and had a lot of important saves. We were also successful on counter attacks, so we led by 2 goals after first half. In the second half we played better. We are very happy because we've managed to win this difficult game.
Rogerio Ferreira Moraes, Vardar player:
Today it was a very good match. I think it was very difficult to play against Tatran. It is very important that we were able to take 3 points. In the first half we did not play well and Tatran were excellent. In the second half we've managed to get the match under control.