CO Zagreb keeps the first place, +6 over Meshkov
CO Zagreb zadržao vodeću poziciju, sigurnih +6 protiv Meškova
CO Zagreb has as a part of 14th round of regional SEHA GSS league hosted Belarus Brest Meshkov. Guests came to Zagreb as a fourth-placed team of the league but also with a win from the first match between these teams this season. It was 21:19 in Brest. CO Zagreb is on the other side leading team of the league and has almost already statistically secured a place on the Final Four.
Guests have opened the match in a better way. It seemed like Zagreb was having some problems but they have woken up fast. In 12th minute they have with a 4-0 series reached their first lead of the match. Zagreb's defense was outstanding. Meshkov's players have managed to scored only 9 goals which surely proves it. On the other hand scorers were concentrated, especially Mandalinic and Obranovic who were alongside with Horvat Zagreb's best scorers of the first half. On the other side Vukic and Kamyshyk have scored 2 both for guests.
Second half was almost the same as the second part of the first. Meshkov has however managed to change their defense and reach the equaliser at 20:20 in 52nd minute of the match. But then they've simply stopped and Zagreb was able to win the match easily with some great goals by Mandalinic and Horvat but also with some additional help from guest team's goalkeeper Charapenka. In the end it was 26:20.
Mandalinic scored 7 for Meshkov, Horvat 5. On the other side Vukic scored 5, Spiler 4 for guests.
Zeljko Babic, Meshkov's coach:
- Well deserved win for Zagreb. It is very hard to expect anything positive to happen after so many technical mistakes and black-outs. Players have missed concentration and it was simply impossible to beat Zagreb playing this way.
Ivan Pesic, Meshkov's goalkeeper:
- Zagreb has played very good in defense today. We've had too many mistakes in the last 10 minutes which were decisive for the result. That has in my opinion decided the match.
Boris Dvorsek, CO Zagreb's coach:
- I am much more satisfied with a first part of the match than with the second, especially with our defense which was on a very high level today. They've managed to score only 9 goals which is great. The only bad thing in our today's performance was our black-out from 45th to 52nd minute when they were able to reach an equaliser. But our last 8 minutes were great and we won the match.
Antonio Kovacevic, CO Zagreb's player:
- I think we've played a quality match with only one bad period in the middle of the second half. We're satisfied with a win and on Friday we'll travel to Presov for new points.