Montenegro earn hard-fought victory over Poland

EHF / Filip Mishov

08 December 2024, 17:25

After two defeats in the first two main round matches, Montenegro needed a victory over Poland to keep their hopes of reaching the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 final weekend in Vienna alive, but slim.

Despite a strong start from Poland, the 2022 bronze medallists eventually clinched a narrow 30:28 win and added two points. While they can no longer reach the semi-finals due to previous results, they could still play the match for fifth place in Vienna.

Poland, with three main round losses, are now out of the hunt for Vienna.

GROUP I

Montenegro vs Poland 30:28 (14:14)

even though Poland held a lead for the best part of the opening half, the teams went tied into half-time with all to play for after Montenegro recovered from a three-goal deficit in the ninth minutes
Magda Balsam received a direct disqualification in the 19th minute after her seven-metre shot hit Armelle Attingré on the side of her head
Arne Senstad changed Poland's offence to seven-against-six once Montenegro started to pull ahead in the second half, but switched back only after a few minutes as it was largely unsuccessful
Attingré started the match and made seven saves until the second half, when Marta Batinovic stepped in and made five important saves, helping Montenegro take a decisive four-goal lead
Monika Kobylinska was Poland's top scorer with six goals to her name; with 58 goals in her EHF EURO career, the left back is now only two away from tying Kinga Grzyb's record of 60 as Poland's second-best top scorer in their EHF EURO history
Tatjana Brnovic scored five goals and dished five assists, as well as playing a key role in defence for Montenegro, and the line player was chosen as the Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos

Jaukovic's offensive masterclass eliminates Poland

Montenegrin right back Djurdjina Jaukovic is on the comeback from injury and has shown throughout the EHF EURO that she is getting back to her best. Against Poland, Jaukovic scored eight goals, made numerous assists for her teammates and also played a vital role in defence.

With six goals scored in the first half and a couple in the second, Jaukovic was the top scorer in the tournament after the match and although she spent the last five minutes in the stands after her third two-minute suspension, her importance for Montenegro cannot be questioned.

For us it’s important that we won, we have some bad takes but also a lot of good things. I am happy with the players that after we lost two times, we came back and showed this in the match. We have a good defence, they didn’t do anything new. Maybe in the last match we had this problem with shooting from nine or 10 metres from the left back, but I am happy and proud of the girls that they again jumped over the mentality that things were lost.

Suzana Lazovic

Head coach, Montenegro

We knew, hoped and showed that we could be a part of it right from the start. I think we were playing really well on goal, in the defence, getting exactly what we wanted. Also in attack we were playing well, but we started to make these mistakes and get these stupid two-minute suspensions. Then we were getting out of the rhythm, players coming in and drawing at half-time. And then in the second half it was a little bit the same. When we played our game we were doing it really well but unfortunately we made too many mistakes.

Arne Senstad

Head coach, Poland