The championships of Croatia and Serbia have continued after three weeks of break, which was packed with the Regional League and the Champions League matches.
Most of the favorites collected points with ease, but there were interesting games. The most exciting matches were played in Split.
2021/22 Serbian League, Round 8
Novi Beograd – Sabac 18:4 (5:1, 5:1, 6:1, 2:1)
Crvena Zvezda – Proleter 14:11 (4:3, 3:3, 3:2, 4:3)
Partizan – Valis 17:5 (4:2, 5:2, 4:0, 4:1)
Radnicki – Nais 18:4 ( 5:2, 6:0, 3:2, 4:0)
Zemun – Vojvodina 12:18 (2:7, 4:2, 3:5, 3:4)
Novi Beograd hosted Sabac for the second time within ten days. Last week, the league leader defeated Sabac in the Regional League (14:8). This time, the match turned into a one-sided contest quickly. Novi Beogradopened the game with a 4:0 lead. In the middle of the third, the hosts already had a 13-goal advantage (15:2). Strahinja Rasovic and Dusan Mandic scored three goals each in an 18:4 victory.
Champion Radnicki recorded an 18:4 win, as well as Novi Beograd. Radnicki demolished Nais with four goals from Aleksa Ukropina. Filip Jankovic added three. Some of the most experienced players of Radnicki – Cuk,Vrlic, Dobozanov, Toholj, Dobozanov, Milicic missed the game.
Crvena Zvezda, the third Serbian club in the Champions League played against Proleter, which kept up with the favorite for more than two quarters. In the 15th minute, it stood 6:6. Crvena Zvezda earned an 8:6 lead early in the third period. Proleter halved the deficit (7:8). Crvena Zvezda responded with three goals to go to 10:7 and controlled the match until the end. Captain Vukicevic and veteran Radjen didn’t play for Crvena Zvezda, while the man of the match was Gavril SUbotic with four goals. Danilo Cabrilo scored four for Proleter.
Partizan cruised to a 17:5 victory over Valis. The best scorers were FIlip Radojevic (4), Milan Aleksic (3), and Stefan Mitrovic (3).
Vojvodina defeated Zemun 18:12. An opening 6:0 run put Vojvodina on the right track. Dragoljub Rogac led the visitors with five goals, but the best scorer was Zemun’s Nikola Japundzic, who found the net seven times.
1 Novi Beograd 8 – 24
2 Partizan 8 – 21
3 Radnicki 8 – 18
4 Crvena Zvezda 8 – 15
5 Sabac 8 – 15
6 Vojvodina 8 – 10
7 Valis 8 – 10
8 Proleter 8 – 4
9 Zemun 8 – 1
10 Nais 8 – 0
2021/22 Croatian League, Round 7
Medvescak – Jug 4:14 (2:6, 1:3, 0:2, 1:3)
Jadran S – Primorje 10:4 (1:1, 4:0, 3:1, 2:2)
POSK – Zadar 1952 10:10 (4:3, 2:2, 1:4, 3:1)
Mladost – KPK Korcula 18:7 (4:1, 5:4, 5:1, 4:1)
Mornar – Solaris 11:11 (3:3, 2:3, 5:0, 1:5)
Favorites – Jadran, Jug and Mladost showed no mercy to their rivals. But the remaining two games of the round were very exciting.
Mornar and Solaris shared the points in the game in which both teams had ups and downs. In the 12th minute, Solaris earned a 6:4 lead. But, the Sibenik-based side couldn’t find the net in the following 15 minutes. Mornar produced a 6:0 run and turned around the two-goal deficit into a 10:6 lead. Antun Goreta ended Solaris’ goalless phase in the 27th minute (7:10) and the visitors, finally, started coming back. Solaris equalized at 10:10 a minute and 33 seconds before the end. Mornar’s first and only goal in the fourth quarter was scored by Hakovcevic with 23 seconds to go for 11:10. But, that wasn’t the end. Solaris called a time-out. In the last possession, the visitors had 7 on 6 attack. Goalkeeper Marin Sparada joined the teammates in Mornar’s half of the field. It was Sparada who beat the buzzer. Solaris’ goalie found the net in the last second and the visitors saved the match to an 11:11 draw. The best scorers were Ferdinand Josip Buselic, Martin Vrdoljak (both Mornar), Nikola Strkalj, Antun Goreta (Solaris) with three goals each.
An hour and a half before the game Mornar – Solaris, POSK and Zadar 1952 faced off in the same pool – Poljud in Split. The teams that didn’t have a single point before the 7th round, were in a neck-and-neck race throughout the game. Three seconds before the end of the third quarter, Cicero gave Zadar a 9:7 lead. In the middle of the final period, the difference was still two goals (10:8 for Zadar). But, POSK saved a point with two back-to-back goals – 10:10. Zadar’s Cicero was the best scorer (3 goals) .
The best of the three Split-based clubs in the league, Jadran played excellently in defense against Primorje – 10:4. Jerko Marinic Kragic led Jadran’s attack with three goals. Luka Bukic and Andjelo Setka added two each. Konstantin Kharkov missed the game. Tin Brubnjak scored three for Primorje.
Jug completed a series of away matches with a victory over Medvescak in Zagreb (14:4). Captain Loren Fatovic hasn’t returned to the team yet. Even nine players of Jug got on the scoresheet. Maro Jokovic, Patrik Kolak, Ivusa Berdjelez, FIlip Krzic and Marko Zuvela netted two goals each.
Mladost recorded the biggest win of the round. The reigning champion ran over KPK Korcula – 18:7. Marin Dasic was unstoppable, he found the net six times. Matias Biljaka and Ivan Vrbnjak scored three goals each, Primorje’s Srdjan Antonijevic finished the match with four goals.
1 Jug AO 7 – 21
2 Jadran 7 – 21
3 Mladost 7 – 15
4 Solaris 7 – 13
5 Mornar BS 7 – 10
6 Primorje 7 – 9
7 KPK 6 – 6
8 Medvescak 7 – 3
9 Zadar 7 – 1
10 POSK 6 – 0
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