Veszprem comes out on top in a battle of defenses in Brest

«Веспрем» побеждает в битве защит в Бресте

Meshkov - Veszprem

After three games of point gathering Meshkov Brest did not manage to prolong the good streak in a match against reigning champions Telekom Veszprem losing 19:16 (10:6).

This was their first defeat of the season and on the other side, with three new points, Hungarians have managed to climb all the way to second position on League’s table. Focus was in this match strictly on defenses with an extremely low amount of goals which was also partly due to good goalkeeping performances on both sides - Pesic finished the match with 12, Mikler had 16 saves.

Guests have had control of the match from its very beginning stating that they have arrived here to take three points. Coach Sabate has also made a few roster changes comparing to their previous encounter and his team was able to keep the tempo up throughout the whole match. Hosts have however managed to reach a narrow ending with Ostroushko and Vukic bringing their team to only -1 (16:15) with a little more than 5 minutes left to play. Despite of that Momir Ilic was focused scoring two important goals in the end, Gajic added 1 and Veszprem secured an important victory. 

Javier Sabate, Telekom Veszprem coach:
I'd like to congratulate Meshkov on a good start in SEHA League this season and a good match here today. Obviously no one will take points from Brest easily this season. Our goalkeeper was good today, just like Pesic on the other side. They did not allow us to enlarge the gap forcing us to struggle through all 60 minutes.

Dragan Gajic, Telekom Veszprem player:
Both teams were good in defense in this match. We’ve played with 150% of our strength because this was an important match for us. Away game and points in Brest will also serve us well ahead of the beginning of CL campaign and duel against Flensburg.

Sergii Bebeshko, Meshkov coach:
Veszprem has once again proved to play superb, modern handball. Their defense was excellent and their goalie was on a high level as well. We were not good in attack from the very beginning missing some easy, clear shots. However, in the end we’ve had our chances, especially to score when it was 14:15 but we were in the end a bit unlucky to reach a draw. The whole team fought well today but this simply wasn’t our day. I despite of the loss believe we’ll use this match well because upcoming matches will be on the same, high level. I hope we’ll reach better results in those encounters.

Ljubo Vukic, Meshkov player:
It's very difficult to play against Veszprem. They have the best defense in Europe and on the other hand we were not as successful in attack as we can be. If we want to reach better results in CL we’ll have to improve and score from clear chances.