RK Partizan - Vojvodina 27:26 (superliga, round 3)

Mea culpa. I almost forgot about this game. It was back on Wednesday, yes, on the same day as the Serbian Cup qualifying. I don’t know whose idea it was, but I send them my warmest (NOT) greetings, because it could be a great game, I assume it was one of the best, if not the best of the season.
Sportuzivo.tv broadcasted it though, I could watch approx. the first 30 minutes. It was not an easy game. Not at all. At least at that point it wasn’t. Looking at the statistics the rest of the game wasn’t any easier. Vojvodina was leading for the whole time. In the beginning it was 3:2 for a short while though, but Team Novi Sad switched it to 3:5.
Then it was 4:10.
Our boys were fighting hard. They put their heart and soul out to the court, but Vojvodina’s goalkeeper saved everything. I swear he even had an evil little smile on his face as well. But even that didn’t keep our team back.
10:12. Then 12:13. The team was on full speed so much, that 2 minutes before the end of the first half it was 13:15, then we equalized for the half-time (15:15).
In the first part of the second half Vojvodina kept their advantage, but this time we allowed them to be ahead with 2-3 goals only. Then in the 49th minute we equalized with Stevanović’s goal (22:22), then Živković took the lead for us!!! (23:22). There was no mercy. Stevanović scored again (24:22)
The last 7-8 minutes surely brought a game on the edge. 53rd minute. Vojvodina reduces the difference to 24:23. Živković has an instant reply (25:23). Vojvodina equalizes with clenched teeth (25:25). What is more, they take back the lead in the 57th minute (25:26). 59th minute. Kukić, who was playing in top form during the whole game, equalizes (26:26). And afterwards, almost immediately, in the same minute the Captain scores the winning goal. 27:26, time for the end buzz, WE WON!!! Well done, boys!
The hero of the day is Lazar Kukić with six goals. He is followed by 3 players, all scoring 5-5: Nemanja Živković, Darko Stevanović and Igor Mršulja. Vuk Milenković and Andrija Đuričić both scored 2-2 goals, while Nikola Ivanović and Aleksa Maksić added 1-1 to the victory.
PS: I hope sportuzivo.tv. will upload this game to Youtube. It will be worth to watch it (again). (If it’s uploaded, I’ll put the link here.)

Darko Stevanović smashing

Partizan bench on their feet

Captain Mršulja and one of his cannon shots

No Vojvodina-player can get any further, Pižurica (13) and Perunčić are watching

Milenković scores, even from the floor

Well-deserved celebration

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 5 points
2. Šamot 65 5 points
3. Dinamo 4 points
4. Spartak Vojput 4 points
5. Sloga 4 points
6. Vojvodina 3 points
7. Požarevac 2 points
8. Partizan 2 points
9. Morava 2 points
10. Metaloplastika 2 points
11. Rudar 1 point
12. Jugović 0 point

(photos: Facebook/Super Rukometna Liga Srbije)

RK Partizan - Metaloplastika 30:23 (play-off, round 10)

This game was interesting not only because it was the last round of the championship, but because these two teams will clash again within 4 days - on 2nd June, to be more precise, at 18:00, in the semi-final of the Serbian Cup. This and the championship title having already been decided brought the two teams trying to hide their tactics for the Serbian Cup Final Four (according to the match report at the handball team’s website).
The first half brought an equal(-looking) game. It was sort of a "ping-pong" game, one goal here, one goal there, with only one goal of difference. We jumped to a two-goal-difference in the 23rd minute first (10:8), then even though Metaloplastika equalized (10:10), we still set back to the two-goal advantage in the 27th minute (13:11) and we kept it up for the half-time as well (16:14).
The second half brought a more stable Partizan-advantage, sometimes with 2-3-4 goals. What is more, two minutes before the end we were leading with 7 goals (28:21). This difference can be seen in the end result, too.
The hero of the day was Nemanja Živković with 11 (!!!) goals. He is followed by Igor Mršulja (4), Mihajlo Radojković and Lazar Kukić (3-3), Stevan Sretenović, Vuk Milenković and Živan Pešić (2-2) as well as Mijat Perunčić, Nikola Ivanović and Mihajlo Stošjević (1-1).
The handball championship have ended. Vojvodina won the championship title with 17 points. Partizan finished on the 3rd place.

CONGRATULATIONS and salute to the players and the coach staff for the fantastic result, for the brave fight and for sticking to the team even in the hardest times!
Well done, boys!!!

(photo: Facebook/Partizan is life)

End result of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 17 points
2. Metaloplastika 15 points
3. Partizan 12 points
4. Spartak Vojput 9 points
5. Sloga 5 points
6. CZ 2 points

RK Sloga - RK Partizan 27:26 (play-off, round 9)

This game could be one big struggle.
Perhaps Sloga deliberately focused hard on this game to knock us out, or maybe we were by default out of shape

this latter is more likely, as 3 Partizan-players were absent for being injured: Sretenović, Pešić and Đuričić - wishing them all to get well soon!

nevertheless Team Požega stomped us into the court. Looking at the official match report our luck is that we were defeated only with 1 goal. What is more, in fact we could come up for the end that we could have squeezed out a draw with some luck.
The first half was about Sloga. They were leading for almost the whole half, sometimes with 4-5 goals. We could equalize 5 minutes before half-time (12:12), then we took the lead twice for a short lapse of time, first with Kukić’s goal (12:13), then with Radojković’s (13:14). The home team equalized and soon before the half-time buzz they took back the lead (15:14).
The second half wasn’t much happier either. It was a bit closer though, but Sloga was still leading, now with just 1-2 goals. We could equalize several times. In the 53rd minute the standing was 26:26, we equalized with Radojković’s goal. Then in the 56th minute Sloga scored their winning goal. There were no more goals for the rest few minutes, though looking at the official report (and the number of suspensions) there could be a great fight.
The hero of the day is without a doubt Lazar Kukić with his 9 (!!!) goals and superhuman performance. He is followed by Igor Mršulja, who scored 5 goals. Then come Mihajlo Radojković and Matija Pižurica (4-4 goals), Nemanja Živković (2) as well as Mijat Perunčić and Ivan Popović (1-1).
The next round will be the last round, we’ll play against Metaloplastika. I just got to know that RK Partizan qualified to the Final Four of the handball Serbian Cup. Our opponent will be Metaloplastika, at the other side Spartak Vojput and Vojvodina will clash. The Final Four series will be held in the Šabac Sports Hall between 2nd and 3rd June.

(photos: Facebook/Restoran stadiona Partizan)

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 15 points
2. Metaloplastika 15 points
3. Partizan 10 points
4. Spartak Vojput 7 points
5. Sloga 5 points
6. CZ 2 points

Metaloplastika - RK Partizan 27:26 (superliga, round 17)

I’d start it with a question: who did this? (And who allowed it to be uploaded?)
These match reports are the basis of my blogposts about handball. If they look this terrible, then how should fans get informed about what was going on at the game - because we can’t rely on any sports media, only the handwritten, cell-phone-photographed and uploaded reports of the association.
Anyway, I downloaded it and could make it more or less readable, thanks to GIMP Image Editor. But all those who tried to access via cell phone were surely cursing loud.
We were defeated by one goal. One goddamned goal in the very last minute.
We were leading for most of the first half. Our advantage was not much, only 1 goal, then the home team took the lead in the last 8 minutes. We were still behind them continuously. The standing was 15:15, when Metaloplastika scored probably seconds before the end buzz. 16:15 was the half-time result.
The second half was approx. the same as the first. We equalized, then it was the well-known ping-pong-game: one goal here, equal, one goal there, equal, one goal here, equal, etc.

The battle of two raging giants. There could be a big fight on the court, that’s when I feel sorry that nobody broadcasted.

The end was the same as of the first half. The standing was 26:26, only 3 minutes were left. Metaloplastika scored in the very last minute and we probably had no time to equalize.
Three of us scored six goals tonight: Nemanja Živković, Mihajlo Radojković and Igor Mršulja. Stevan Sretenović, Lazar Kukić and Ivan Popović scored 2-2 goals, while Mijat Perunčić and Živan Pešić added 1-1.
Photos from the game:

(photos: srls.rs)

League table comes later, there’s one more match left from this round that will be played next Wednesday.

Sloga - RK Partizan 28:19 (superliga, round 13)

Before starting this match report you click and watch this heartfelt video with captain Mršulja, then you run head over heels to help the handball team.

The handball team is in a very big trouble. For a while it was questionable even if they can start the spring season of the championship. The reason, as always when it’s about Partizan, is the financial state of the team. For this reason Srđan Cekić, RK Partizan’s president resigned two weeks ago. He said, "The club has been on the verge of existence for 3 years now. In this situation I cannot guarantee even the minimal conditions for the team’s basic functioning. It was my moral duty to resign."

After this it’s no wonder at all that we were defeated with almost 10 goals at the season opening match.
It started well though. In the beginning we were leading, always with one or two goals, with Sloga constantly equalizing, but Mršulja, Živković, Pižurica, Sretenović and Kukić joined their forces. We hung in there until the 21st minute, when Sloga took the lead (8:7) and from then on they didn’t let control out of their hands for the rest of the game.
Here, at the end of the first half we could still equalize a couple of times (8:8, 10:10), but the half-time result was already 14:10.
For the second half Sloga overgrew us. They ran away, sometimes to the difference of 7 goals (19:12, 20:13), what is more, in the 48th minute their advantage was 23:15. We fought hard and brave, we scored goals (25:18, 55th minute), but the strain from the home side was too much.
The hero of the day was Igor Mršulja with 6 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (5), Stevan Sretenović (3), Lazar Kukić (2) as well as Matija Pižurica, Mijat Perunčić and Aleksa Maksić (1-1).

 (photos: srls.rs)

League table will be brought later.

Update: current championship standings
1. CZ 23 points
2. Sloga 20 points
3. Metaloplastika 18 points
4. Partizan 16 points
5. Požarevac 16 points
6. Jugović 12 points
7. Morava 11 points
8. Rudar 9 points
9. Radnički 4 points
10. Železničar 1 point