Handball superliga, round 13: RK Partizan - Mokra Gora 27:21

This match was back on last Saturday, but over here I had/still have Christmas - have a merry one everyone whom it may concern - that’s why I’m coming with this post just now.

Don’t expect basketball posts from me in the near future. I’m done watching this bunch of talentless, useless players who have no idea about the game. Life is too short to waste it on shitty matches and mediocre players.

On the other hand there is the handball team, a group of talented, skilled and dedicated youngsters, most of them coming from our own youth academy. They get far less attention than they would deserve. Well, handball itself doesn’t get enough attention...

We had an overwhelming start. When the standing is 11:4 fir us 10 minutes before the end of the first half, you can say we started it strong… Hats off to Mokra Gora, because they did come back for the middle of the second half to 16:15, they even took the lead. We equalized in the 45th minute (17:17) then took back the lead with Butulija’s goal. From then on we kept things under control until the final buzz.

Here’s a scene from the game and a photo of young Aleksa Maksić, the MVP of the game. (photos: super.rss.org.rs)

End result of the autumn season:

1. Železničar 1949 25 points

2. Partizan 17 points

3. Crvena Zvezda 17 points

4. Obilić 16 points

5. Rudar 15 points

6. Sloga 15 points

7. Spartak Vojput 13 points

8. Metaloplastika 10 points

9. Šamot 65 9 points

10 Mokra Gora 9 points

11. Požarevac 6 points

12. Jugović 4 points

A (not that long) summer break

I don't mind at all (on the contrary!) that the summer break is this short in the football season. Compared to the two-month-long winter break, when I almost cut my veins, this few-week-long holiday is really bearable, especially that the CL-qualifyings are at the corner and afterwards the championship starts as well. (Meanwhile it's hot as hell, Average Fan tries not to get cooked, nor to get a heat stroke.)

The biggest happening of the transfer season was the return of Danilo Pantić to Partizan. I tell you, I’m one of those few who’s very happy for the boy’s return.

I know it's been trendy lately to curse, mock, spit and threaten Pantić as well as anyone who’s on his side. Yes, I also did get a portion after raising my voice for the kid and/or telling off a few haters. It made me laugh hard to see all those neurotic, spitting armchair-smartasses who put all possible threatenings into sight in case of Pantić’s return. Some of them looked as if ambulance should be called for them. So, I’m happy for Pantić being back to Partizan and can’t wait for his goals and assists.

Danilo Pantić in all smiles at his arrival at Partizan’s training camp in Zlatibor

Posing with Neca at a training

He even played at a friendly against Mladost

(photos: partizan.rs)

Another thing - independent of Pantić - that the team have played two friendlies so far and lost both. One against Zeta (MNE), to 0:1, another against Mladost (again 1:0). Oh well. These games are just friendlies, with no consequences and better to lose now than in the championship/CL.
As for other transfers, little Milenković went to Fiorentina. Partizan's management decided about his fate with the Italians back in the spring, what is more, it seems, Fiorentina takes Vlahović, too, as soon as the kid reaches the coming of age. No news yet about possible arrivals. There are a few rumours about Seydouba Souma though, but Partizan have been trying to get this midfielder from Guinea since forever, so far with no success. (Maybe, if I remember well, there was a Brazilian player as well in the possible transfers, but nothing happened.)
Meanwhile the team travelled to Slovenia for a training camp, there will be friendlies, then on 11th or 12th July comes the Champions League qualifying against Budućnost Podgorica.

***

I honestly admit, I didn't follow the basketball team for a while. Their performance was so very depressing and awful that every single game (among those I actually watched...) made me totally pissed and very sad at the same time. It was painful and infuriating to see the very same tactics - regardless of opponent or league - on every single goddamned game. Same tactics, same half-talents who will probably never have any more chance in life and especially to see every single game have the same screenplay, moment to moment. Shitty first quarter, struggling second (when we somehow equalized), suicidal third, finally (if we had luck) a combative fourth in a style that should have been present in EVERY SINGLE FUCKING QUARTER. Then, if we were lucky enough, we could win the game with this last quarter, if not, then not. It happened every time, on every game. And I hate to say it, but I was right: I said right in the beginning that even though this performance might take us until a certain point either in the freshly baked Basketball Champions League (the Euroleague of the poor...) or ABA Liga or in the Serbian superliga, but it's not enough for happiness. After this in Champions League PAOK smashed us into the face, in the semifinal of ABA Liga Cedevita simply stepped over us (based on our shitty performance we wouldn't have deserved to qualify to the final...), but the really bad surprise was in the Serbian league: we were eliminated in the semifinal by FMP (!!!). They say the last time it happened to KK Partizan to get eliminated in the semifinal was in 1998. Honestly, it didn't surprise me after this very disappointing season. Head coach Aleksandar Džikić has left for Budućnost, the two Americans left - Robinson has left during the season (he added absolutely nothing to the team), Hatcher left at the end of the season (he had some performance, though in a team like this even Michael Jordan himself couldn't make any miracle). I can't pick any player who had an exemplary or just an acceptable performance. I know that everyone is all over Novica Veličković, but the thing is, that in his case it was more about routine and heart than abilities/talent, but as the saying goes, in the land of the blind the one-eyed will be the king. The team is searching for a head coach now, but most of all it's searching for its old self.

***

As for the rest of the team sports: the water polo team has won the Serbian league. After practically the whole team left last year, it was a miracle even that there were a few remaining in Banjica to continue the work. They continued, so much that they won the championship title and will enter Champions League.
The handball team were running the gauntlet during the past season. Key players left, one after the other, a new coach was needed, too, plus the play-off became play-out at the end of the season. They finished on the 3rd place of the play-out, avoiding relegation, but who knows what comes in the next season.
The volleyball team ended much worse. OK Partizan was factually an U21 team for the season and they got releagated to the 2nd league. Honestly? I'm not surprised. My heart breaks for the team, but knowing their circumstances, it couldn't be avoided. It's no wonder at all, with so young players and such financial possibilities that are worse than worst. The team was practically on an amateur level.
That's all, folks.

Rudar - RK Partizan 30:30 (superliga, round 9)

What a game it could be, with an amazingly lucky home team goal in the very last minute, which brought them the draw. Just because, FYI we were leading for the whole game. (Well, okay, not for the entire game, because in the beginning it was 1:0, then 2:1, but it was gone quickly.) 4:8, 6:11, 10:14, 12:16, we had a smooth first half.

By the way, our team had quite a number of young players, compared to them our captain, 22-year-old Igor Mršulja was almost like a veteran.

Referees gave us too many exclusions even in the first half. (Looking at the records Rudar had half as many exclusions as us. Oh no, come on, who said that referees are biased? No way... in the superliga? Against Partizan? Neveeeeer...)
Things got a bit more tough in the second half. We got more exclusions, while Rudar got penalties. (We got none in the second half. Just sayin’.) We still kept ourselves rolling. 13:18, 15:20, 16:22. Then around the 46th minute Rudar started to reduce the difference. In the 50th minute it was already 24:25, we quickly jumped to 24:27, but from this point on Rudar was close behind us. They were so close that in the 59th minute they equalized (29:29), but Komnenić quickly took us back the lead (29:30).
Then Komnenić was sent off. Only two seconds were left from the game.
Don’t ever ask me why.
To cut it short, Rudar equalized at the very end.
The hero of the day was Lazar Kukić with 9 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (7), Nikola Perović (6), Igor Mršulja (3) as well as Vuk Milenković and Petar Komnenić (2-2). Stefan Jokić scored one goal.
Photos.

(photos: srls.rs)

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 15 points
2. Dinamo 14 points
3. Vojvodina 13 points
4. Sloga 12 points
5. Spartak Vojput 11 points
6. Šamot 65 11 points
7. Partizan 8 points
8. Požarevac 7 points
9. Rudar 7 points
10. Metaloplastika 6 points
11. Morava 4 points
12. Jugović 0 point

RK Partizan - Sloga 28:27 (superliga, round 8)

This game was back on Saturday. Today is Tuesday. I’ve been waiting until now to find some - any - material about this game, photos, anything.
LOL.
Even the government would resign earlier than any material about handball games will be released...
The most important is that we won. We had a confident advantage in the first half (6:3, 10:6, 13:9 and so on), then the second half was a bit more close, though we kept the lead for the whole time, just now our advantage was only 1-2 goals.
The hero of the day is Nikola Perović with 6 goals. He is followed by Lazar Kukić and Igor Mršulja scoring 5-5 goals. Stefan Jokić and Vuk Milenković earned 3-3 scores, Nemanja Živković, Darko Stevanović and Nikola Ivanović all scored 2-2 goals.

Current championship standings:
1. CZ 13 points
2. Vojvodina 13 points
3. Dinamo 12 points
4. Sloga 10 points
5. Spartak Vojput 9 points
6. Šamot 65 9 points
7. Požarevac 7 points
8. Partizan 7 points
9. Metaloplastika 6 points
10. Rudar 6 points
11. Morava 4 points
12. Jugović 0 point

Handball: 1 blogpost, 3 games (superliga, round 4 and 5 + postponed game from round 1)

Mea maxima culpa. I’m lagging behind with the handball games too much. Round 4 was back on 24th September. Jugović was our guest in the Banjica sports hall. We won against htem to 32:30, even though it seemed the result will be better on the guests’ side based on the first half. They were leading for the whole time, the half-time result proved it (15:16). In the second half we were better, though Jugović could still took the lead for a short while. But we equalized in the 43rd minute with Kukić’s goal (22:22), then Ivanović took us back the lead. From then on we kept the game under control leading always with 1-2 goals.
The hero of the day was Nemanja Živković with 10 goals. He is followed by Lazar Kukić (6), Nikola Ivanović and Aleksa Maksić (4-4), Vuk Milenković and Igor Mršulja (3-3) as well as Matija Pižurica (2).

Photos from the game

(photos: srls.rs)

***

The postponed derby against Metaloplastika was played on 28th. It was a very tough game to say the least. Metaloplastika was leading to 0:5 in the beginning, we scored our first goal in the 8th (!) minute by Nemanja Živković (1:5). After 15 minutes it was 4:9... but we didn’t give it up. We jumped to 9:10 in the 20th minute, and 3 minutes before the end we took the lead (13:12). Kukić scored the leading goal, he had a fantastic performance for the entire match. We were leading in the half-time as well (14:13).

The second half brought a nip-and-tuck game. One goal for Partizan, one for Metaloplastika... Sometimes Partizan could have a small 2-goal advantage, but Metaloplastika always equalized. The final result was also a draw, 30:30.

Lazar Kukić was the best scorer (9), followed by Nemanja Živković (6), as well as Vuk Milenković, Nikola Ivanović, Aleksa Maksić and Igor Mršulja (4-4).

Photos from the game

(photos: srls.rs)

***

Finally the last game from round 5. Partizan visited Dinamo in Pančevo. It was... well it was brutal. We had no chance. At the beginning we tried to keep the pace (3:4), then Dinamo equalized and from then on they were leading until the end buzz. They didn’t just keep the lead, they kept on humiliating us... 14:9, 16:11, and that was just the first half. The second was worse. 20:11, 23:15, too big difference for the whole game. Finally the home team won to 31:26.

The two heroes of this battle are Darko Stevanović and Lazar Kukić, both with 6 goals. They are followed by Igor Mršulja (4), Nemanja Živković, Vuk Milenković and Nikola Ivanović (3-3) as well as Stefan Jokić (1). 

(photos: Facebook/Super Rukometna Liga Srbije)

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

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)

Šamot 65 - RK Partizan 25:19 (superliga, round 2)

Yes, we started this season with round 2. No joke. We would have clashed with Metaloplastika in round 1, but that game was postponed/cancelled, so far there’s no info about the background reasons.
As a start we got defeated by the newbie Aranđelovac team Šamot 65.
It was a very painful defeat, we didn’t really have any chance. At the very beginning of the game there was one point when we were leading to 1:2 for a moment (with Milenković’s goal), then the home team quickly equalized and in the 16th minute it was already 7:4 for them. The first half ended with 12:8, then the second continued with 14:8, then 16:10. We even got 8 penalties (scored from 6), while Šamot got not more than two. We still couldn’t work it out. The match ended with 25:19, Stevanović scored one goal in the last minute for us.
Three of our players scored 4-4 goals (Nemanja Živković, Vuk Milenković, Lazar Kukić), Aleksa Maksić added 3 to the end result, while Darko Stevanović and Nikola Ivanović both earned 1-1 goal.
This video is the only audiovisual material I could find all over the internet about the match - big thanks to RTV Šumadija for uploading it to Youtube.

Vanja Ilić has returned to Partizan!

After one year in Macedonia (Rabotnički Skopje) Vanja Ilić is again the player of RK Partizan. Balkan Handball shared the info about the Skopje-based team having a financial meltdown at the end of the season, so Ilić decided to return home.
Meanwhile other players left Partizan: Sretenović signed to Nimes (FRA), Radojković to Besiktas (TUR), goalkeeper Tomić to Krka (SLO), while Popović has been the player of Bidasoa (ESP) since this summer. All of them explained their decision with the same reason: the financial struggles of the team.

It seems though it’s still not as tough as in Macedonia.

Captain Vanja, welcome back home!

(photo: novosti.rs)

Ivan Popović has signed to CD Bidasoa

Great to know about it, after one month. It was back in the first days of July that Ivan Popović, also known as Ivan the Terrible, the Fist of Partizan, the pivot of all pivots has signed to Basque handball team CD Bidasoa.
Have I mentioned how much I love (not) this detailed, always-in-time flow of information?...

Vamos cerrando la plantilla para la vuelta a la máxima categoría. Ivan Popovic se incorpora al Bidasoa de la Liga Asobal. Ongi etorri! http://bit.ly/29sx1R0
Posted by C.D.Bidasoa on Monday, July 4, 2016

Beside him Živan Pešić is told to be in search for a new team.
Ivan, thank you for everything! For your goals, for your fighting spirit, for always putting your heart and soul on the court! Good luck in Spain and we’re looking forward to your return to Partizan!

Update: the players of Bidasoa have started the preparations for the 2016/17 season. They published a few images on their FB-page; here is one with Ivan Popović.

(photo: Facebook/C.D.Bidasoa)

Metaloplastika - RK Partizan 30:24 (Serbian Cup, semifinal)

I have a strong suspicion that the reason why Metaloplastika allowed us to win over them with 7 goals was that they knew well they’d beat the hell out of us at this game.
It was awful to watch. I swear those guys ate cement fro breakfast. Their defense line was like concrete and their goalkeeper saved even the impossible.

I tried to make screenshots, but only the flashy advertising boards were visible in the Šabac sports hall instead of the players. It made an interesting shadow-show though; interesting, but not enjoyable at all.

The team is arriving at the court, players were called one after the other

National anthem

Then the game started and that was all you could see. Nothing else. (I have to admit though, those advertising boards were totally cool.)

At first it was a nip-and-tuck game until approx. the 7th minute (4:4), then Metaloplastika probably got fed up with this smooth pace and jumped to 8:5. Their goalkeeper saved all our attempts, their players got into heavy clashes without hesitation. It was visible they’re not just more experienced than our young players but probably they’ve been preparing for this cup semifinal for a while, putting even their shirts to this game.

Well, yea. They surely didn’t want to let down their own spectators.

Their defense line was unbreakable, even for Ivan Popović, our Ivan The Terrible, the Fist of Partizan. In the 15th minute Metaloplastika was ahead with 10:5. What is more. Soon before the half-time it was 16:8 for them. The first half ended with 17:9, and even this standing we provided with a lot of struggle.
The second half continued where the first ended. The two teams played a very tough game - it was sportsmanlike, but rough, with lots of man-to-man fight. Metaloplastika was leading for the whole time, in the 43rd minute it was 22:15 for them. At this point we started to reduce the difference, with sweating, with struggling, with clenched teeth, from goal to goal. For the 50th minute through a heroic fight we came up to 24:20. A ray of hope, that we might still be able to make it...
Unfortunately Metaloplastika woke up still in time and they ground us alive. We tried, we fought hard, but we had a lot of missed-out attempts and/or the nasty grin of Metaloplastika’s goalkeeper as he saved practically everything.
That’s all, folks.
The hero of the day is Lazar Kukić with 7 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković and Stevan Sretenović (5-5), Igor Mršulja (4), Mihajlo Radojković (2) and Živan Pešić (1).

This team definitely deserves a big, big CONGRATULATIONS and a salute. Not just for this game, but for their performance in the entire season. For head coach Nenad Maksić, who shaped this very young team so much (keep in mind that team captain Igor Mršulja will be 22 this summer) that they defeated experienced, old players and internationally acclaimed teams. For winning over the eternal opponent in the play-off and finishing the season at the 3rd place of the league table with a fantastic performing. All these while the club was (and probably still is) at the verge of going bankrupt, the president resigned in the middle of the season because he didn’t see the existing financial/material conditions eligible enough and the players didn’t receive salary for months. So now you raise up, stand in attention and salute for them.
Well done, boys!

Grave Diggers in the Šabac sports hall

(photo: Facebook/Restoran stadiona Partizan)

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

RK Partizan - Crvena Zvezda 30:26 (play-off, round 8)

VICTORY!!!!
What a victory! With such a great game!
Our defense line was like concrete. Živković, Radojković, Ćućuz (and everyone else) did a fantastic job.
I brought you LOTS of screenshots.

The teams line up for introducing the players

National anthem with flag

Radojković (17) and Popović (33) during the Serbian anthem

Youth players holding the team logo

The beginning was a nip-and-tuck game (at one point Zvezda took the lead as well), but afterwards we were leading until the end. The opponent couldn’t even equalize. We didn’t allow them to take over control.

Živković is about to score from penalty (he did so, we were leading to 2:1)

Then Zvezda equalized and they took the lead at this point (2:3). It was only the 6th minute of the game, but referees already sent off Popović for 2 minutes.

Popović had a great game today. He was the bastillon of the defense, Zvezda could approach the goal area only through his dead body.

Maksić rushing back after he equalized (3:3)

Kukić is about to throw a penalty (from which he’ll score and Partizan will lead to 4:3)

Referees didn’t really like us. In the first 10 minutes they sent off two Partizan-players for 2 minutes (one of them was Popović mentioned above, the other was Sretenović), other than this they generously handed out yellow cards. At the beginning they gave out at least 3 (okay, they were for Zvezda, too). Then at 5:5 Partizan got fed up with this nip-and-tuck fumbling and we put ourselves into action.

The moment when Sretenović got his 2-minute penalty. Kukić took back the lead for us just before that

Kukić then sped up and scored two more goals for us. We jumped to 8:6.

Lazar Kukić

And we continued it like this, always with an advantage of at least 2-3 goals.

Milan Ćućuz, one of the heroes of the derby. He had fantastic saves for the whole game

Like this one

This was one of the best moments of the match. Zvezda attacked, but Partizan’s defense line tackled them. Radojković grabbed the ball, ran up, made an amazing counter-attack, then raised up to the air and smashed a HUGE goal into the net. (12:9)

Nemanja Živković from behind, as he’s wiping his face

Then our captain Mršulja also signed himself on the list of goal scorers a few times. We finished the first half with 16:13.

Oppa Zvezda-style - the head coach angrily explains something to Mandić, who claims (seemingly annoyed) that whatever it is about, it was not his fault

Živković scored the last goal of the first half, after that he laid on the court in pain

Ivan "Grozni" Popović

The second half started immediately with Popović being sent off for the second time. Zvezda took advantage of the power play and reduced the difference to 16:15, meanwhile we missed out a number of chances.

Pešić can’t believe his eyes after one of these missed-out attempts

Finally Radojković broke the silence and in the 34th minute he made us jump to 17:15 (he is hurrying back on this screenshot after his goal)

Then we didn’t stop until 19:16, but even then it was just for Ćućuz and his great penalty-saving.
Afterwards we continued with the goal-factory. At this screenshot Živković is celebrating the team’s 20th goal scored by him of course.

This was that point, around the 44th minute that the referees got totally fed up with Popović and they sent him off for the third (and last) time.

Popović got standing ovation and walked off the court like a hero

But even the referees couldn’t stop us marching towards victory. Zvezda had some bitter, struggling attempts, but our defense line was harder than the walls of Kalemegdan.

Meanwhile Popović walked up to the tribune and sat down among fans

Unfortunately I couldn’t catch that frenetic moment, when Živković scored the world’s greatest troll goal at 25:22. He ran up, broke through the defense, raised up to the skies, then lobbed the ball above the goalkeeper’s head with a refined movement. Instead I caught that, when Kukić speeds up (then at the end of the attack, when the goalkeeper is about to pass the ball to the teammate for another Zvezda-attack, Sretenović appears out of the blue and throws the ball into the net among the shocked red players).

Here he is, Stevan Sretenović, celebrating his goal

A few more screenshots from the match:

Mršulja celebrating his goal he scored while Zvezda (!) was in power play

Head coach Nenad Maksić

Pešić scored our last goal

End of the match, Sretenović goes to shake hands with the opponent

End result and a victorious Živan Pešić

Group hug

The hero of the game is Mihajlo Radojković with 7 goals. He is followed by Nemanja Živković (6), Živan Pešić (5), Lazar Kukić and Igor Mršulja (4-4), Stevan Sretenović (3) as well as Aleksa Maksić (1).

This game and the upcoming two will determine whether we can enter SEHA League next season. We won this match, in the next round we’ll play against Sloga (away), then in the last round we’ll be the hosts against Metaloplastika. Metaloplastika is definitely one of the toughest opponents, yet we must not shrug off Sloga either.
Still it’s not impossible.
COME ON, BOYS, TAKE ’EM ALL!!!

Current standing of the play-off:
1. Vojvodina 13 points
2. Metaloplastika 13 points
3. Partizan 10 points
4. Spartak Vojput 7 points
5. Sloga 3 points
6. CZ 2 points