Group A: Three Derbies and the Leaders’ Fifth Consecutive Win
December 19, 2022
The first round of the regular season in the Baltic Handball League is over. In Group A, Matchweek 4 featured three matches: Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian derbies.
TOP MATCH
The most intense match took place in Lithuania. Dragūnas Klaipėda defeated Granitas-Karys Kaunas 29:26 at home. Dragūnas ranks third and Granitas-Karys ranks fifth.
Dragūnas Klaipėda – Granitas Karys-Karys 29:26 (14:12)
Dragūnas– Lapiniauskas 7, Plakhotin 5, Šmantauskas 5.
Granitas – Jurkevičius 7, Štarolis 4, Montvilas 4.
Gintaras Cibulskis (Dragūnas Klaipėda, coach):
It was a tough and hard-fought match. In the first half, our goalkeeper Maksim Lobchuk didn’t do well, but Benediktas Pakalniškis substituted for him nicely. It was his match. We managed to win. Congratulations to my team. Those men fought until the end – they deserve the victory. It feels nice to end the year with a victory. I thank our fans for their support, they also contributed a lot to this victory.
Vaidotas Grosas (Granitas Kaunas, coach):
Until we realise the opportunities we create, we will not win. We played well in defence and our goalkeepers saved us. We also play quite well in attack and create good opportunities. However, we don’t score goals. I hope that after the New Year my team will realise that they need to work harder in training and correct their mistakes. We are second to last in the group. But all is not lost – there are still 5 matches left. If we correct our mistakes, we can expect better results.
The Group A leaders Raasiku/Mistra and Viljandi HC met in round 5. Viljandi HC won 29:23 for their 5th consecutive victory. Raasiku/Mistra remains with 4 wins.
Raasiku/Mistra – Viljandi HC 23:29 (14:13)
Mistra – Orlovskyi 5, Naumenko 3.
Viljandi– Koks 11, O.Varik 4, Basarab 4, Pertelson 4.
Kristo Voika (Viljandi HC, player):
It was a good effort by both teams. Today as long as we kept to our game plan we had success in offense. First half we had a lot of problems in defense but we managed to repair them in the second half. Also we made some good substitutions and managed to keep the tempo at a high level Andrei Basarab made a great game in offense and defense.
ASK Zemessardze/LSPA defeated HK Ogre/HYDROX 36:24 at home in the Latvian derby. ASK Zemessardze ranks fourth which guarantees a place in the play-offs. HK Ogre remains without points.
ASK Zemessardze/LSPA – HK Ogre/HYDROX 36:24 (12:11)
ASK – Rancāns 8, Grebeņņikovs 6, Jonuška 5.
Ogre – Patsykailik 6, Borodovskis 5.
GROUP A
| Position | Team | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Viljandi HC | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 159 | 124 | 35 | 10 |
| 2. | Mistra | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 145 | 131 | 14 | 8 |
| 3. | HC Dragunas | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 152 | 135 | 17 | 6 |
| 4. | ASK Zemessardze/LSPA | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 139 | 161 | -22 | 4 |
| 5. | Granitas-Karys | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 141 | 157 | -16 | 2 |
| 6. | HK Ogre/HYDROX | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 146 | 174 | -28 | 0 |