High-scoring clashes heat up EHF European Cup Men round 2

• HC Vojvodina beat Maccabi Rishon Le Zion 67:64 on aggregate to advance to round 3; the Israeli side won the first leg of this double-header in Serbia on Saturday by one goal (32:31) in a close match, in which three goals was the highest lead held by either side; in the reverse fixture on Sunday, the home side scored a 6:1 run to close out the first half (21:16) and extended this lead to eight after 51 minutes (32:24), and finally claiming a 36:32 win

• HC Lovcen Cetinje, RK Dubocica and Raimond Sassari also clinched their tickets for the next round in double-headers, comfortably beating HC Berchem (74:64), ZRHK TENAX Dobele (73:61), and KH Kastrioti (77:55), respectively; Cetinje’s Vuk Mrvaljevic was the top scorer with 18 goals; Sassari’s Giovanni Pavani stood out with 18 saves overall in the tie

• HRK Gorica secured a three-goal advantage over HC Butel Skopje (27:24) for their second leg next Saturday in North Macedonia; the Croatian hosts had a superb start to the match, leading 11:6 after 21 minutes; Butel Skopje closed the gap to one goal at half-time (13:12) and even took the lead in the second half; however, they could not secure an away win, conceding a 1:6 run in the final 10 minutes

• HV KRAS/Volendam and Förthof UHK Krems met in a rematch of their 2024/25 clash in round 2, when the Austrian side advanced by five goals on aggregate; Krems took a first step to replicating this outcome on Sunday, winning 28:26 in the Netherlands; Volendam committed more turnovers (7:3) and had offensive struggles in the second half, only netting on 48 per cent of their shots in a low-scoring second period (10:11); Matthias Höllerer had a big impact for the visitors, saving four crucial shots

• Irakli Kbilashvili and Radu Ghiță scored seven goals each to push AHC Potaissa Turda to a 29:27 away win against Derdaele Sporting Pelt; the Belgian hosts had the better start to the match, leading 7:3 after 12 minutes with Seppe Vandeboer scoring three of his four goals; three minutes before half-time, Turda’s Gabriel Florinel Dumitriu scored to take the lead (14:13); there were numerous lead changes throughout the second half, with the Romanian side claiming the last one in minute 57, extending their gap to two in the remaining minutes; the sides meet next Saturday at 17:00 CEST in Romania

• roomz JAGS Vöslau had a successful away trip to Slovakia, beating HK Bojnice 31:27 after trailing 12:14 at half-time; the Austrian side improved their shot percentage significantly in the second half, scoring on 83 per cent of their shots in comparison to only 50 per cent in the first 30 minutes; a 3:0 run in the last three minutes results in a four-goal advantage for next week’s return leg at home

• GS Drama 1986 squeezed past MSK Povazska Bystrica by one goal in their first leg match in Greece (31:30); Drama had a narrow lead for the first 40 minutes, with a match-high four-goal lead (23:19); Bystrica responded by scoring six unanswered goals to take their first lead after 45 minutes (23:25); the Greek hosts claimed the advantage again with three minutes left to play, securing a close victory

Goal-fest sets up fascinating second leg

HC Motor met RK Slovenj Gradec for the first leg on Saturday, and both teams showed off in offence. 82 goals were scored, evenly distributed between both sides.

Motor had the better start, leading 15:9 after 17 minutes. Slovenj Gradec's 9:4 run brought the visitors back into the match four minutes before half-time (19:18), but Motor responded by scoring seven unanswered goals from minute 27 to 34 (26:18).

However, the Slovenian side were still not done fighting back, mounting another impressive comeback in the remaining 26 minutes to tie the match with two minutes to play at 39:39. After that, both sides scored two more goals to end this goal fest with a 41:41 draw after an intense handball clash.

This sets up a fascinating reverse fixture for next Saturday, 24 October, at 19:00 CEST in Slovenia. Tjaž Štaleker (12) and Veljko Stanojevic (11) combined for 23 goals for the visitors, while Danylo Rahozin and Vitalii Horovyi scored nine times each for HC Motor.

Photos © Filip Viranovski (main), HC Vojvodina/Dimitrije Nikolic (in-text)