Podravka and Storhamar celebrate first wins; Darleux steers Metz to victory
Podravka Vegeta and Storhamar Handball Elite celebrated their first wins of the season. The Croatian side did it with a decisive victory over CS Gloria 2018 BN, dominating from the start and thus welcoming a long-awaited win. In the Scandinavian derby, Storhamar Handball Elite's strong second half lifted them past Nykøbing Falster Håndbold.
The Match of the Week met the expectations — it was an intense game throughout but Cléopatre Darleux's sensational performance stopped FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria's winning streak and pushed Metz to a fourth consecutive win and to top of the table. CSM Bucuresti beat Krim Mercator and left the Slovenian side with the first defeat of the season.
I want to congratulate Podravka. Today they played their first half really well. We prepared the game really well but we didn’t respect what we prepared. I am not satisfied about the first half and I am sad that we lost two players this game.
I am really happy to come back in this hall. It was a pleasure and I really liked this game. I am so proud of my team. I want to congratulate Bistrita for trying to come back in the game.
Storhamar never gave up. In the first 15 minutes it seemed like they were still behind, but then they got closer and Norwegian teams just never give up. We missed some big opportunities and they deserved to win.
They were running a lot in the first half and we struggled in the defence. But we managed to get back and we did a lot of good things in the second half.
I think it was a big match and a great match for us. We worked really hard for this weekend. Today we worked really well as a team, and when someone made a mistake, another girl took over. Cléo was perfect in the goal and I'm really pleased. We won at home and we showed our true colours and I hope it gets better and better.
We're disappointed with the game on the field, I think we achieved a lot in our defence and also in our attack. We only scored 19 goals but today's game had two very good goalkeepers. I think the girls did a very good job and we had a lot of good situations today, some good changes.
It was a very difficult game. I have to agree that the defence was not at its best. We were always chasing the gap, but we couldn't overtake our rivals.
It's always nice to play in Slovenia. I'm also happy to see more and more people at the games. Krim forced us to give our best performance. In handball, everything can change in a few seconds, but we managed to make a difference in defence.
