Esbjerg, Sävehof and Brest secure victories
Three rescheduled matches from round 10 of the DELO EHF Champions League group phase took place on Saturday 29 January, and the live blog brought you coverage of them all.
22.23
Helene Fausk had plenty to cheer about in Brest Bretagne's 30-25 defeat of FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria. The Norwegian ended the match as leading scorer with 13 goals.
Next up Brest host BV Borussia Dortmund 09, while Hungaria take on Rostov-Don. Both on 5 February.
I'm happy with this game. The ranking is not important today. I'm happy because the team performed very well in defence and we played as a team. It is a very good feeling. We know FTC's situation at the moment, it's difficult for them and I hope they can recover their players quickly.
A player from Brest killed us tonight. She is sitting next to me. It is Helene Fauske. It's not possible that she can score so many goals for us.
20.45
Two players leading scoring with seven - Helene Gigstad Fauske for Brest, and Antje Angela Malestein for Hungaria.
Team Esbjerg are hard to play against. The first half was awful, but it got better during the second half. But injuries are an issue for us at the moment.
We are happy with the win. We expected a tough match, but we started well in the first half. Our midweek match in the national league did not go well, so we had things to prove. The effort from the players was good, so we are happy with the big win.
18:00
Esbjerg's victory was all but assured after their dominant display in the first half. But Mette Tranborg still made a positive impression for the Danish side in the second half via her long-range efforts.
17:33
FULL TIME: Team Esbjerg 30:17 HC Podravka Vegeta
Group A leaders Team Esbjerg record an impressive 13-goal victory against Podravka Vegeta. The Danish side are now three points clear of their nearest pursuers at the top of the group standings.
17:21
Although this looks as though it will be another heavy defeat for Podravka, the quality of some of Esbjerg's play has been superb. Annette Jensen's assist might be the highlight for fans of creative handball.
17:14
The statistics for lost balls in attack do not look good for Podravka, who trail 24:13 after 49 minutes. The Croatian side have made a combined total of 14 errors in attack.
16:51
Dijana Mugoša beating Rikke Poulsen, who has made seven saves from 14 shots faced, was probably Podravka's best moment of the first half.
16:43
The goal timeline from EHFTV shows that Esbjerg outscored Podravka in each 10-minute segment in the first half.
16:40
HALF-TIME: Team Esbjerg 18:7 HC Podravka Vegeta
Virtually all of the statistics are in Esbjerg's favour after the first half in Denmark – and the most important "stat" is that they have an 11-goal advantage over Podravka. The group A leaders appear on course for another victory!
16:27
Esbjerg have extended their lead to seven goals, 13:6, after 22 minutes. With three goals, Reistad is Esbjerg's top scorer. While two of her goals were penalties, her only goal from open play so far was worth watching.
16:11
Since Reistad slid the ball out to Sanna Solberg-Isaksen for Esbjerg's first goal of the game, it has been one-way traffic in favour of the Danish side – who lead 6:2. It has also been something of a Norwegian party in Denmark. Norwegian players account for five of Esbjerg's six goals.
15:55
For Podravka, this upcoming match against Esbjerg is their last chance to stay alive in the group phase of this season's DELO EHF Champions League. The Croatian side know that they must win all four remaining games in group A and hope that Borussia Dortmund stay on nine points.
In their first match against Esbjerg this season, Podravka only lost 27:26, so this game should not be viewed as a foregone conclusion.
15:20
We have 40 minutes to go until Esbjerg's match against Podravka Vegeta begins. Will we see another 13-goal performance from Henny Reistad? If you don't want to watch Reistad's goals from last week on loop until the match throws off, check out the post-match reaction below from Kastamonu vs Sävehof.
According to us, the most important thing is to be together and fight till the end. We lost – that's okay, that happened – but I am very proud of my team about not giving up and fighting till the end, even in the last timeout that our opponents had.
I’m very satisfied with our win today. We managed to step up in defence, especially in the second half where we ran a lot and got some easy goals. These two points are very important for us if we are going to advance to the play-offs.
14:10
It may seem slightly strange for there to be heavy focus on the goalkeepers after a game with 55 goals, but Marina Rajcic, Merve Durdu and Sofie Börjesson all played a key part at various points of the match.
While Börjesson finished with 14 saves at a 41 per cent rate, Durdu made eight stops at an even higher rate after replacing Rajcic for Kastamonu – 53 per cent.
13:55
Enjoy Trine Wacker Mortensen showcasing her spin skills at the end of Sävehof's important win over Kastamonu.
13:40
FULL-TIME: Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK 26:29 IK Sävehof
Here is confirmation that Sävehof have completed a 29:26 win in Turkey over Kastamonu. The Swedish side are now in the all-important sixth place in group B.
13:32
Trine Wacker Mortensen looks very happy after using some spin from the wing to score Sävehof's 29th goal of the game, and Sofie Börjesson adds to the Swedish side's joy with a double save. They lead by three goals with 30 seconds remaining.
13:24
Sävehof goalkeeper Wilma Kroon Andersson had to leave the court after a shot that caught her in the face resulted in some blood coming from her nose. After returning to the court to replace her teammate, Sofie Börjesson stopped a fast break from Jovanka Radicevic – although the shot was taken from a tighter angle than Radicevic would have liked. Sävehof lead 28:25 with six minutes remaining.
13:13
Kastamonu levelled the score twice early in the second half – at 18:18 and 20:20 – but they now trail 26:22 and have called a timeout with approximately 15 minutes remaining.
12:46
Here is one of Marina Rajcic's saves in the first half for Kastamonu.
12:44
HALF-TIME: Kastamonu Belediyesi GSK 14:16 IK Sävehof
Sävehof have a two-goal advantage at the break in Turkey. Despite the Swedish side scoring 16 goals in the first half, led by four goals from Anne Tolstrup Petersen, Kastamonu goalkeeper Marina Rajcic finished the first half with a save percentage of almost 35 per cent.
12:27
Both goalkeepers – Marina Rajcic and Sofie Börjesson – have begun to make an impression on the match, but the tempo remains relatively high. Sävehof have had 23 shots in just over 25 minutes, and Kastamonu are not far behind on 21 shots. The Swedish side lead 13:12.
12:08
Unsurprisingly, Jovanka Radicevic and Jamina Roberts were highlighted as key players prior to the match.
Roberts has opened her account for Sävehof from the seven-metre line, and the Swedish side have a 6:4 lead after seven minutes of fast-paced handball.
12:02
As we get underway in Turkey, here is confirmation of how the teams line-up from EHFTV.
11:40
In the first meeting between Sävehof and Kastamonu this season, Sävehof produced an amazing comeback to win after trailing by six goals at half-time. In that match, goalkeeper Sofie Börjesson made 12 saves and finished with a 52 per cent save efficiency.
One of Börjesson's stops against CSKA last weekend featured among our top five saves of round 11. Will we see the Sävehof goalkeeper at her best this afternoon?
11:15
Some significant news was received from Kastamonu on Friday afternoon: Hakan Günal will be the Turkish side's coach against Sävehof after Costica Buceschi left the club by mutual consent. Günal has coached Kastamonu previously – and he led the club to the semi-finals of the Women's EHF Cup in 2017/18.
11:05
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of Saturday's three rescheduled matches from round 10 of the DELO EHF Champions League. Yes, today's action will begin at a relatively early time for most people in Europe when Kastamonu vs Sävehof throw off at 12:00 CET.
Despite the early start, the match has a lot of significance for both teams. Kastamonu, who are five points adrift of sixth-placed Krim, are looking for their first win at the highest level in Europe, while Sävehof are aiming to snap a five-game losing run in the Champions League.
Check out all the important information on the three games that are ahead of us in our preview.
