The big game of the 3rd day of the French League didn’t disappoint water polo lovers. The most important match of the round was an encounter between Strasbourg and Pays d’Aix, played in Strasbourg. Pays d’Aix managed to defeat the reigning champion 15:13, despite they were three goals behind Strasbourg at halftime.
Pays d’Aix continued its winning streak, as well as Montpellier which beat Sete 14:13.
French League, Day 3
Strasbourg – Pays d’Aix 13:15 (4:4, 5:2, 3:6, 1:3)
Strasbourg: Markovic 3, Babic 2, Bratic 2, Letica 2, Sutic 1, Jablonski 1, Begovic 1, Denux 1.
Pays d’Aix: Gluhaic 4, De Lera 3, Gagulic 3, Monneret 3, Espanol 2,
Sete – Montpellier 13:14 (2:3, 3:2, 5:4, 3:5)
Sete Natation: Rustamov 4, Do Carmo 2, Budurin 2, Chadieu 2, Alfonso Pozo 2, Furman 1.
Montpellier: Ivankovic 4, Kalinic 3, D. Zivkovic 2, I. Zivkovic 1, Vasseur 1, Mustur 1, Delas 1, Piot 1.
Reims – Noisy-le-Sec 11:9 (3:2,2:3, 4:1, 2:3)
Reims Natation: Missy 4, Balaz 3, Krivokapic 1, Andelic 1, Caraj 1, Vix 1.
Noisy-le-Sec : Pesteric 3, Peisson 2, Petkovic 2, Bjorch 1, Kolarik 1.
Douai – Tourcoing Lille 12:14 (0:2, 2:6, 3:2, 7:4)
Douai : Bouet 4,, Canonne 3, Muller 2, Rocchietta 1, Vitrant 1.
Tourcoing: Randjic 7, Koopman 2, Grgurevic 2, Kujacic 2, Krizman 1.
Marseille – Nice 18:4 (4:0, 4:0, 4:1, 6:3) – played on 23 October
Marseille : Djurdjic 4,Olivon 3, Kovacevic 2, Marion-Vernoux 2, Vanpeperstraete 2, Christiaens 2, Vernoux 1, Crousillat 1,Izdinsky 1.
Nice : Butic 2, Caumette 1, Ladouce 1.
Pays d’Aix started well in the match against Strasbourg. The visitors opened the encounter with a 3:1 lead, but then Strasbourg took control and had a nice 9:6 advantage at halftime. Early in the third period, the reigning champion had a 10:7 advantage before the visitors started climbing back. Pays d’Aix equalized with three goals in a row (10:10), while the score was 12:12 after this quarter. Both teams worked hard for a goal in the 4th period, but it took almost four minutes before Gluhaic converted a man-up to put Pays d’Aix in front – 13:12. Quickly after that, the visitors added two goals and went 15:12 up. Strasbourg scored a consolation goal, but it was too late. Pays d’Aix celebrated a 15:13 win.
This was the second straight loss for Strasbourg. In Round 2, Marseille defeated titleholder (12:9).
Something similar happened in Sete, where Sete hosted Montpellier. The visitors were the favourites, but after the third quarter, Sete had a minimal 10:9 lead. Montpellier dominated the last quarter and secured a 14:13 victory.
Though Tourcoing Lille had a 6-goal advantage at halftime of the match against Douai (8:2), the visitors had to fight hard to save a victory. Douai reduced the gap to 1 (11:12) two minutes from the end. After that, Tourcoing’s Miroslav Randjic netted his 6th and 7th goal in the game for a 14:11 advantage and his team secured all three points.
Reims recorded the first win in the season, by beating Noisy-le-Sec 11:9.
In the last match of the round, Marseille demolished Olympic Nice (18:4).
1 Marseille 3 – 9
2 Pays d’ Aix 3 – 9
3 Montpellier 3 – 9
4 Noisy-Le-Sec 3 – 6
5 Strasbourg 3 – 3
6 Tourcoing 3 – 3
7 Reims 3 – 3
8 Nice 3 – 3
9 Douai 3 – 0
10 Sete 3 – 0
