Two derbies have been played this weekend in the leagues of the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
In the Croatian classic, Jug Dubrovnik narrowly beat Mladost (11:10). In the big match of the 12th round of the Serbian League, Novi Beograd was better than Crvena Zvezda.
2020/21 Croatian League, Day 13
Group 1 (places 1st – 6th)
HAVK Mladost – Jug AO 10:11 (3:3, 2:5, 4:3, 1:0)
Mornar BS – Jadran Split 9:19 (2:6, 1:5, 4:5, 2:3)
Primorje EB – Solaris 11:9 (3:2, 1:3, 4:1, 3:3)
Title-holder Jug recovered from a shocking 8:11 loss to Solaris and defeated its arch-rival Mladost. With this win, Jug probably secured 1st place before the playoffs.
The crucial moment happened in the opening minute of the 2nd period. Mladost’s Lovre Milos was excluded for a brutality foul, and his team played with one player less in the following four minutes. Jug scored three unanswered goals during these four minutes and jumped to a 6:3 lead. After that, Mladost tried to come back. The hosts cut the deficit to one goal several times (5:6, 7:8, 8:9), but Jug was constantly in front. The visitors took a 3-goal lead once more in the 23rd minute (11:8). Mladost held Jug scoreless in the last nine minutes, but the Zagreb-based side scored just two goals in the remaining time. Croatia’s captain Andro Buslje converted a man-up for 10:11 in the 29th minute, but there were no goals in the last three minutes and Jug celebrated the win.
Jug’s Loren Fatovic was the best scorer with five goals. Paulo Obradovic and Daniil Merkulov added two each.
Luka Bukic scored four goals for Mladost, Andro Buslje, Franko Lazic, and Marin Dasic netted two.
Ivan Marcelic (Mladost) posted 13 saves. Jug’s goalkeeper blocked eight shots, but some of his most important saves came in the final minutes.
Jadran Split, led by Andjelo Setka and Antonio Duzevic (five goals each), easily beat Mornar in the Split derby and caught up with Mladost in points.
Solaris couldn’t produce another surprise and lost to Primorje.
1 Jug 12 – 33
2 Mladost 12 – 30 (+123)
3 Jadran S 12 – 30 (+97)
4 Primorje 12 – 24
5 Mornar 12 – 18
6 Solaris 12 – 18
Group 2 (places 7th – 11th)
KPK Korcula – Zadar 1952 15:3 (4:0, 3:2, 4:0, 4:1)
Medvescak – POSK postponed due to corona cases at POSK
Galeb bye
7 Medvescak 11 – 12
8 KPK 12 – 10
9 POSK 10 – 9
10 Galeb 11 – 7
11 Zadar 12 – 0
2020/21 Serbian League, Day 12
Novi Beograd – Crvena Zvezda 12:8 (3:1, 2:1, 5:4, 2:2)
Partizan – Zemun 16:10 (4:1, 5:4, 2:2, 5:3)
Vojvodina – Radnicki 5:16 (2:3, 1:5, 2:5, 0:3)
Banjica – Nais 8:9 (1:3, 1:1, 3:3, 3:2)
Stari grad – Sabac 6:21 (0:4, 2:8, 2:2, 2:7)
After two painful losses (to Vouliagmeni 8:9 and to Radnicki 7:8), Novi Beograd got back on the winning track.
Novi Beograd hosted Crvena Zvezda. The two teams shared the points in the first half of the regular season. This time, Novi Beograd opened the match excellently, with a 3:0 lead. Crvena Zvezda scored its first goal in the last second of the first quarter. At halftime, the home side had a 5:2 advantage. Nine goals were scored in the third period. Crvena Zvezda came close to the rival after just three minutes of play in this quarter (6:7). However, Novi Beograd produced a 3:0 series by the end of this quarter to earn a 10:6 lead and kept the distance until the end.
Drasko Gogov scored five goals for Novi Beograd, while Filip Grdasevic netted four. Veljko Tankosic and Gavril Subotic scored two goals each for Crvena Zvezda.
The league-leader Radnicki blew away Vojvodina in Novi Sad (16:5). Sabac and Partizan, also, recorded convincing wins. Nais narrowly defeated Banjica.
1 Radnicki 12 – 33
2 Novi Beograd 12 – 31
3 Crvena Zvezda 12 – 28
4 Sabac 12 – 24
5 Vojvodina 12 – 18
6 Partizan 12 – 18
7 Nais 12 – 11
8 Zemun 12 – 10
9 Stari Grad 12 – 2
10 Banjica 12 – 1
More news about the national water polo competitions in Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro
