In the last match of the first Round of SEHA Gaszprom South Stream league last year's champion CO Zagreb hosted NEXE in Croatian derby of SEHA GSS league and won 37:30.

In the beginning of the match Zagreb's youngsters Mandalinić and Stepančić scored two great jump shot goals and opened the game well for Zagreb. In the 10th minute it was 3:3 as Sokolić and Franjo Lelić scored 2 easy goals for NEXE. After that Zagreb started playing harder in defence which led to scoring a few easy goals from their wingers Šprem and Horvat which of course resulted in making the bigger goal diference. In 16' minute it was +3 (8:5), and in 18' +4 (10:6). In the second part of the first half both coaches rotated much so many young players got their chances in the first half. Best scorers in the first half were Stepančić with 4 goals for CO Zagreb and brilliant left back Vegar with 6 for NEXE.

Second half began in the same way for Zagreb as they kept on enlarging the goal difference. In NEXE's lines Vegar slowed down a bit but Šime Ivić and Igor Vujić replaced him scoring few important goals. In the second half Zagreb also introduced some of his reinforcements, Obranović and Čorić who played well for the first time in SEHA GSS.

In the end, speaking of the best scorers, Stepančić, Horvat, Šebetić and Josip Valčić scored 5 for CO Zagreb, Vegar 8 and Vujić 7 for NEXE.

After the match, NEXE's coach Kordi wasn't delighted but shared an optimistic view of the match: ''It's really hard to play against such an opponent with such a wide bench, especially with ozr almost whole new. Although we lost too much, we had some good periods in this match and that's what makes me happy. As I stated before, we have to work hard and wait for the results.''. NEXE's best scorer today Vegar couldn't add much more: ''Zagreb is a better team at the moment but if we managed to keep our focus, goal difference wouldn't have been so big in the end.''

Zagreb's coach Dvoršek said: ''Nexe is a good team and I believe they will only grow. Thing I am not satisfied with from today's match is that they scored 30 goals. But preparations were hard and long, our legs are still heavy. It will surely get a lot better in future.''

19 year old right back who recovered from shoulder injury and scored 5 goals today, Šebetić, only added: ''We have to play better, especially in defence in order to be good in Champions league as well as in SEHA GSS league. But I'm happy we managed to win today.''

Thing to add is that another Zagreb's youngster Obranović injured his hand, but medical research will show details.

 

TEXT: Bruno Pinević