Novi Beograd continued its unbeaten run in the Serbian Championship after it narrowly defeated titleholder Sabac in a thrilling derby of Day 9. Novi Beograd will enter the next year from the top position.
Hosts recorded wins in the last three matches of the Croatian League in 2020.
2020/21 Serbian League, Day 9
Sabac – Novi Beograd 8:9 (1:3, 3:2, 4:2, 0:2),
KVK Radnicki – Zemun 17:7 (2:2, 8:1, 4:4, 3:0)
Crvena Zvezda – Stari Grad 6:12 (0:3, 1:5, 2:2, 3:2)
Vojvodina – Nais 11:6 (3:0, 3:3, 4:3, 1:0)
Partizan – Banjica 16:7 (4:2, 3:1, 4:2, 5:2)
Novi Beograd led most of the time in the derby played in the pool in Sabac, but it had to struggle for the victory until the final buzzer. Titleholder Sabac missed a great chance to take at least a point. Novi Beograd dominated the opening minutes and earned a 5:1 lead in the 12th minute. But, Sabac managed to come back. The hosts equalized twice in the third period (6:6, 7:7). Twelve seconds before the last break, they finally went in front – Vucinic converted a penalty for 8:7. But, the home team couldn’t find the net in the final eight minutes. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Sabac made a mistake in the visitors’ half of the field. After a wrong pass by the hosts, Novi Beograd started a counter-attack, which was finished by Milos Cuk, who hit the back of the net for 8:8. Just three seconds before the end, Novi Beograd’s Drasko Gogov converted a man-up and the visitors celebrated a 9:8 victory. Gogov netted four goals in the derby and keeps 1st place on the list of the league’s best scorers, with 34 goals. Djordje Vucinic scored three goals for Sabac.
Sabac suffered the third consecutive loss in the last two weeks. Twelve days ago, Sabac was defeated by Novi Beograd in the quarterfinals of the Serbian Cup (10:12), and Crvena Zvezda beat the titleholder in the league match last week (12:9).
KVK Radnicki, led by Strahinja Rasovic (6 goals), easily beat Zemun in the 9th round and remains in 2nd place, ahead of Crvena Zvezda, which defeated Stari Grad.
The Final Four of the Serbian Cup will be held in Belgrade next week (December 28 and 29). The pairs of the semifinals: KVK Radnicki – Novi Beograd 011, Crvena Zvezda – Partizan.
The league will be continued in the last week of February.
1 Novi Beograd 011 9 – 25
2 KVK Radnicki 9 – 24
3 Crvena Zvezda 9 – 22
4 Sabac 9 – 18
5 Vojvodina 9 – 15
6 Partizan 9 – 12
7 Nais 9 – 7
8 Zemun 9 – 7
9 Stari Grad 9 – 1
10 Banjica 9 – 1
2020/21 Croatian League, Day 10
Solaris – Galeb 11:5 (3:0, 2:1, 3:2, 3:2)
Primorje – Mornar 11:8 (3:0, 5:3, 3:3, 0:2)
Jadran S – POSK 17:8 (7:3, 4:2, 4:0, 2:3)
Played earlier
Jug AO – Zadar 1952 20:1
HAVK Mladost – Medvescak 22:6
KPK Korcula bye
There were no exciting matches in the 10th round of the Croatian League. Favorites earned convincing home wins.
The closest match was an encounter between Primorje and Mornar. Primorje won 11:8 (with five goals from Tin Brubnjak) and took over 4th place in the table from Mornar. But, there was no drama in the finish of the game. Primorje jumped to a 10:3 lead in the middle of the third quarter. After that, the Rijeka-based side slowed down, but Mornar couldn’t come back.
Jadran Split easily defeated POSK 17:8 in the clash of the two Split-based teams.
The 11th round of the Croatian League is scheduled for February 27. In the meantime, the Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin clubs will start the new season of the Regional League. Before that, the national teams of the three countries will play at the final tournament of the European qualifications for the World League (Debrecen, January 8 – 10). The Final Four of the Croatian Cup will be held in late January.
In February, Croatia and Montenegro will battle for the Olympic tickets at the qualifications in Rotterdam.
1 Jug AO 9 – 27
2 HAVK Mladost 9 – 24
3 Jadran S 9 – 21
4 Primorje EB 9 – 18
5 Mornar 10 – 18
6 Solaris 9 – 12
7 OVK POSK 9 – 9
8 Medvescak 9 – 9
9 KPK Korcula 9 – 6
10 Galeb MR 9 – 6
11 Zadar 1952 9 – 0
More news about the national water polo competitions in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro
