Dream debut for Gloria, FTC cruised to victory
The EHF Champions League Women threw off with the Romanian derby in Round 1, leaving CSM Bucuresti disappointed in Bistrița's Teraplast Arena following a massive performance by CS Gloria 2018 BN's goalkeeper Renata De Arruda. FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria managed to defend their home ground despite good efforts by Nykøbing Falster Håndbold.
The Match of the Week justified its name as Team Esbjerg made a comeback after being down by eight against Györi Audi ETO KC, but still came short in the last moments of the game despite Henny Reistad's 15 goals. Brest Bretagne Handball celebrated their second-ever win against Vipers Kristiansand, while Krim Mercator opened their account with a narrow 24:23 win over Podravka Vegeta.
Im really proud of my team. We did everything we planned to do today. Defense was looking really solid throughout the whole encounter. I feel like we really deserved this win here today against a really good CSM team.
Congrats to Bistrita on this win here today. Their goalie was splendid today, and they simply knew how to punish every mistake we made. We were really hoping to take these points back home, but unfortunately for us they will stay here.
I saw in the locker room that our new players were a little bit shy and nervous, maybe because of the atmosphere and the number of spectators awhich is, in my opinion, why we had a slower start to the match. We felt like we can't lose this one, despite all the mistakes in the first half. In the second, our defense got better, our goalies grabbed some extra saves, and we managed to score some easy goals. In the end, I can say I'm happy with the result.
We opened the match well doing everything we agreed to do before the game. FTC ended up winning this one due to individual quality of their players, and on top of that we made too many mistakes in the attacking half. We have to continue the hard work.
I believe the most realistic outcome for what we've seen here today from both sides was a draw. We looked good in the second despite missing a couple of penalties. Considering everything, we've got to be happy with how close we were able to stay until the very end of the game. We deserved more today, but we also proved both ourselves and everyone else we've got a good base that we now have to keep working on.
I expected Podravka to be highly-motivated today, and that's exactly what happened. They have a great young team, and on the other hand we've only had nine training sessions so far and a couple of friendlies. We're still working on improving in all of the aspects of the game. I have to add I was not surprised at all with how well Podravka looked today. I believe they'll play an important role in this season's Champions League.
We couldn't really control Reistad in the first quarter of an hour, only in the second half at half-time. That was enough for a four-goal lead. We prepared for the seven-on-six game and we were able to score easy goals from those. We gave them the chance to catch up in the first half, we missed a lot of shots and the visitors' goalkeeper defended at least as well as Toft in the first half. We were lucky in the end, but Esbjerg also proved that they are one of the best teams in the world.
We played in a great atmosphere, it's always good to play here, but it's also difficult. I'm proud of the team that we didn't give up, even at a big disadvantage, we believe in each other, we're at the beginning of the road. Of course, I'm a little disappointed because of the defeat.
