PPD Zagreb spoil Antl's SEHA coaching debut

PPD Zagreb vs Tatran Presov

PPD Zagreb have on Friday evening managed to secure their first win in the eleventh SEHA – Gazprom League season defeating big rivals Tatran from Presov. In the end it was 36:26. Davor Cavar delivered a sensational performance going for 8/8 while Dino Slavic finished the match with 10 saves most of which came in the first half in which Zagreb already opened the gap sealing the deal in this one.

Hosts opened the match in a much better way on both sides of the court. Zagreb's defense was functioning very well in the first half, led by Dino Slavic who managed to grab eight saves in the first half only providing his teammates with plenty of chances to score easy goals and widen the gap early. Home team wingers Ivan Cupic, David Mandic and Davor Cavar knew how to take advantage of that leading hosts offensively in that first half towards the 17:11 lead. Oliver Rabek on the other side led Tatran scoring five goals in the first half of Radoslav Antl's coaching debut in SEHA – Gazprom League. An incredible winger who has already managed to leave a huge mark on SEHA – Gazprom League has a lot to work on with this Tatran Presov team full of internationals however, in case we take his handball knowledge into consideration, we have zero doubt Tatran will surely already this season look to stun their opponents in SEHA as well as European League.

In the second half, hosts were able to keep the gap open slowly widening it all the way to +11. In the end however 36:26. Davor Cavar finished the match with eight for Zagreb while Oliver Rabek netted 10 for guests. Guilherme Linhares added five.

In the next round, Tatran will travel to Bitola to play Eurofarm Pelister and PPD Zagreb will play Partizan in Belgrade.

Ivica Obrvan, PPD Zagreb coach:
Goal was to win the match, each one is important in this situation. We've got only a few training sessions behind us and these matches really mean a lot. We've agreed to play best we can from the first minute. The most important thing was to win the game here today.

Radoslav Antl, Tatran Presov coach:
We're in the beginning of a new era in which we are going to completely change our playing system. Currently we are dealing with a lot of injuries but we have to be realistic and say Zagreb have a better team at the moment. As long as we were able to run the court and follow their tempo we were able to stay close however later on it became impossible for us and we allowed them to open the gap. I have to say we've given our best. Goal is to analyze the game and improve in the future.

Marin Sipic, PPD Zagreb player:
Great match for us. We've delivered a solid outing, just like we agreed to. In the end we've even had a chance to try a thing or two we're going to need in the future and I hope we'll continue this way both in SEHA – Gazprom league and in EHF Champions League.

Tomas Recicar, Tatran Presov player:
Congrats to Zagreb on this win here today. I feel like we could have reached a better result in the end but, as coach said already, we've changed a lot of things and now we have to be patient and trust the process.