Only opening minutes of the match between Vardar and Tatran were uncertain in Skopje with home team reaching, in the end routine 39:32 victory making Tatran face their first SEHA defeat of the season.

Vardar have opened the match ad expected - well concentrated and in high tempo increasing the lead as the half time whistle was approaching. Tatran were not able to follow that although they have clearly given their best, especially in the second half vut Vardar were simply better today.

Manaskov was best scorer for hosts with 8 goals, Dereven added 7 and Angelov got back after the injury with 7 saves. Peshkov netted 8 for guests from Prešov. Vardar will in the next round travel to Subotica and Tatran will host Vojvodina.

Raul Gonzalez, Vardar’s coach:

We've had a great first half of the game with solid 5-1 defense and precise attack. We made several steals and got easy goals in counterattacks and after 30 minutes we reached the highest advantage in the game. After the break Tatran  played much better and we couldn’t score easy goals against their 6-0 defense. I can understand my players because we are under certain pressure facing this match between tough CL challenges.

Strahinja Milić, Vardar’s player:

Before the game our coach warned us that Tatran should not be underestimated, even without several injured players, which they' ve showed tonight. But we were disciplined and focused to follow the tactics that our coach prepared and everything worked well especially during the first half. 

Rastislav Trtik, Tatran’s coach:

Vardar demonstrated their strength with players who didn’t played much in previous games. We tried to play better tactically and it worked only during the opening minutes. But, in general we made too much mistakes during the first half, especially between 15-30 minutes in the first part, which was our worst period. We tried to close the gap in the second half but it was too late for come back. We really miss our 6 injured players, all of them at back position. It is a big handicap for us, but on the other hand other players have the opportunity to gain valuable long-term experience against teams such as Vardar.

Igor Chupryna, Tatran’s player:

We knew that we will play against a strong team, that is complete and plays at high level this season. We had a good tactical conception, when we followed the tactics we played well, but in the second part of the first half we had a lot of mistakes. That reflected on the result and we were 10 goals behind after the first half. During the break our coach explained our mistakes and he adviced us how to play in the second half and we've played better. We knew that we are handicapped because we missed 6 players, but we really arrived here to play serious match and to do our best.