Favourites recorded home wins in the 7th round of the French league, but Tourcoing was very close to a big surprise. Tourcoing visited Marseille to face the LEN Euro Cup winner. Marseille needed a lot of time to break Tourcoing. Still, the home team took all three points with a 12:9 win.
French Elite League 2019/20, Round 7
Marseille – Tourcoing 12:9 (2:1, 3:2, 3:2, 4:4)
Marseille : Djurdjic 4, Crousillat 3, Kovacevic 2, Vanpeperstraete 1, Izdinsky 1, Marion-Vernoux 1.
Tourcoing : Randjic 3, Grgurevic 2, Vincourt 1, Krisman 1, Kujacic 1, Nispeling 1.
Pays d’Aix – Noisy-Le-Sec 18:8 (5:1, 3:1, 6:4, 4:2)
Pays d’Aix : , Khasz 4, Bakircilar 4, Monneret 3, Tkac 2 , De Lera 1, Espanol 1, Gluhaic 1, Gagulic 1, Veron 1.
Noisy:Le:Sec : Pliskevich 2, Petkovic 2, Sterling 1, Guerin 1, Marzouki 1, Pesteric 1.
Reims – Sete 12:9 (4:3, 2:2, 2:1, 4:3)
Reims : Missy 3, Andjelic 3, Krivokapic 2, Balaz 2, Caraj 1, Vix 1.
Sete : Rustamov 4, Lopinot 1, Alfonso Pozo 2, Furman 1, Do Carmo 1.
Strasbourg – Douai 13:5 (5:0, 2:2, 3:0, 3:3)
Strasbourg : Babic 5, Markovic 3, Letica 2, Begovic 2, Bratic 1.
Douai : Vitrant 3, Bouet 1, Canonne 1.
Montpellier – Nice postponed due to the bad weather
Marseille opened the match against Tourcoing in an expected way. The LEN Euro Cup winner controlled the match from the beginning and the hosts earned a 5:1 lead deep into the second quarter. But, Tourcoing refused to lie down and die. The visitors started climbing back step-by-step and they equalised in the 3rd minute of the 4th period – 8:8. However, Marseille didn’t let Tourcoing go further. The home side scored four goals in a span of two minutes and made a nice 12:8 advantage. In the remaining time, Tourcoing netted only a consolation goal.
Bogdan Djurdjic (Marseille), who nailed 4 goals, was the best scorer of the match.
The league-leader Pays d’Aix got back on the winning track after a draw with Montpellier last week (11:11). Pays d’Aix demolished Noisy-le-Sec. In the middle of the second quarter, Pays d’Aix had an 8:1 lead and the visitors from Paris couldn’t come back anymore.
After two defeats in a row, reigning champion Strasbourg beat Douai with ease – 13:5.
Reims was better than the bottom-ranked Sete. Reims was leading for most of the time, but it hadn’t an easy task. The visitors managed to equalise in the second quarter (5:5), and they were very close to the rival during the third period (they were trailing 5:6, 6:7). But, Reims jumped to a 10:6 lead early in the fourth period and secured three points.
1 Pays d’Aix 7 – 19
2 Marseille 6 – 15
3 Tourcoing Lille 7 – 12
4 Noisy-le-Sec 7 – 12
5 Montpellier 6 – 10
6 Strasbourg 7 – 9
7 Reims 7 – 9
8 Nice 6 – 9
9 Douai 7 – 3
10 Sete 7 – 0
