RK Partizan - Metaloplastika 23:28 (Serbian SuperLiga, Winners Stage, Round 9)

May a thunderbolt crash into all goddamned sports sites that none of them was willing to report about Partizan’s handball match. Only Sportski Žurnal was soooo generous to mention in a half-sentence that "Partizan lost against Metaloplastika", but the battle between Spartak and Radnički seemed to be more important for them. I have had more than one and two rants about sports/news sites barely or never mentioning RK Partizan or handball in general. For God’s sake, there is the superliga, players, teams, fans, please, respect them by writing match reports.

The fact is still a fact though, we lost against Metaloplastika. I must sadly admit, Metaloplastika was better. The truth is, we missed out too many chances and goal attempts for the entire match, and Metaloplastika used it for their own benefit.
In the first half both teams built a concrete wall around their penalty area. There was a big battle on the court, with very few goals, about 10 minutes before the end the standing was 4:6. Teams started to score in the last minutes of the half. 5 minutes before the end it was 8:10. At a point we could equalize (10:10), that was the only moment we could catch up with the guests. The result of the first half was 11:13.
In the beginning of the second half Metaloplastika was leading to 13:16. It soon became 13:18. We still missed out our attempts... Vanja Ilić scored two, reducing the difference (15:18), but the guests were still leading. Around the 48th minute we made it to 21:22, but at this point the game was fragmented, there were a lot of fouls. A Partizan-player (I’m not sure which, it was impossible to see his shirt number from the distance) got so injured he couldn’t continue the match. (Mršulja substituted him.) Metaloplastika made a 4-goal series (21:26). There were maybe 2 minutes left from the game when both teams started to score in large scale. The problem was that Metaloplastika scored more than us.
The hero of the game was Vanja Ilić, scoring 8 goals. He is followed by Sretenović (4 goals), Marsenić (3), Radojković, Kukić and Popović (2-2) as well as Mršulja and Pavić (1-1). You can watch the first half here, the second here.

Current standing of the Winners Stage:
1. Vojvodina 18 points
2. Spartak Vojput 10 points
3. Partizan 7 points
4. Metaloplastika 7 points
5. Radnički 6 points
6. Jugović 6 points

RK Partizan - Spartak Vojput 33:29

Still at the beginning of the game Ivan Popović got injured, we had to play for the rest of the match without him. Thankfully his absence did not mean any problem. We made it to 10:7, during the first half we increased the difference to 4 goals. Then in the second half the guest team picked themselves together and made a 3:6 series. The difference was only 1 goal 8 minutes before the end (28:27), but the Kukić-Marsenić-Radović axis kicked themselves into action and filled the net of the Subotica team with goals, settling the end result. Radović was the hero of the game with 10 goals.

Sretenović in action

(photo: zurnal.rs)

Current championship standings:
1. Metaloplastika 23 points
2. Spartak Vojput 23 points
3. Jugović 22 points
4. Partizan 21 points
5. Crvena Zvezda 17 points
6. Železničar 16 points
7. Požarevac 14 points
8. Rudar Kostolac 12 points
9. Planinka 12 points
10. Kolubara 0 point

Update: you can watch the first half here, the second half here.