Celje Pivovarna Lasko have managed to edge Meshkov Brest 29:27 (16:12) in a direct encounter for the place on SEHA Final4 in Zlatorog sports hall putting themselves in a position in which they, two matches before the end of the regular part of the season, have everything in their hands. Hero of the night was Celje’s goalie Urban Lesjak, who has recently won WCh bronze in France, exploding for 19 saves against Belarusian champions!

In their fourth encounter of the season, Branko Tamse finally found the key for the squad led by Sergei Bebeshko after tough battles in both SEHA Gazprom League and CL.

Belarusians were in control of the match until 10 minutes before the half time whistle when Slovenian winger trio Razgor - Janc - Zvizej took over enlarging the gap to 5 (16:12) before the end of first 30. Dzianis Rutenka was leading his team in attack finishing the match with 6 and scoring one to bring guests only 2 down with less than 3 minutes left to play but Ziga Mlakar came out clutch sealing the deal in Zlatorog. Blaz Janc led Celje with 7.

Branko Tamse, Celje Pivovarna Lasko coach:
We’ve expected a tough match but it was much easier with these incredible fans, especially our fan group Florijani. Our goal was to play fast with good defense and we’ve managed to do so also having amazing Lesjak between bars today. Six of our players were active on WCh less than a week ago but today they did not show any tiredness and we’ve all together managed to win this match. We’ve committed too many mistakes for a match like this but in the second half we’ve done only a few managing to keep the score on our side against this great team of Meshkov. Unfortunately, this all does not mean very much since Arthur Patrianova renewed his injury. That is the worst thing that can happen to a young player so all our thoughts are with him, wishing him all the best.

Vid Poteko, Celje Pivovarna Lasko player:
We’ve had only few days for regeneration, and even if we had much more this match would still be tough and exhausting. I think we’ve have done majority of our tasks as we wanted before the duel and on top of that had great Lesjak behind us. We are happy that we are still in the race for F, but at this moment all of our positives vibes and thoughts are with Arthur. 

Sergej Bebeshko, Meshkov Brest coach:
They were very well prepared and it didn’t look like they were missing six players for past month and a half. They’ve today shown all the best. We were not mentally prepared missing a lot of clear chances in the first half and on top of that their goalkeeper was great. In the second half we were close, came back just to lose a chance to turn the match over with a couple of late two-minute suspensions. 

Dzainis Rutenka, Meshkov Brest player:
I would like to congratulate Celje for this match and I totally agree with our coach. When you miss so many clear chances you can’t win the match. Celje were very good today despite of the fact they missed six players due last month due to WCh which is simply another reason why I’d like to conratulate them on this win once again.