The ninth round of the French League was completed by a derby Tourcoing – Pays d’Aix.
The encounter between the teams which were successful in the LEN Euro Cup qualifications last week was a fierce battle. Tourcoing recorded a narrow 8:7 win and caught up to Pays d’Aix. After today’s match, Tourcoing, Aix, and Montpellier share places 4th – 6th.
2020/21 French League, Day 9
Tourcoing – Pays d’Aix 8:7 (2:1, 3:3, 1:2, 2:1)
Tourcoing: Randjic 3, Canonne 2, Grgurevic 1, Rocchietta 1, Kujacic 1.
Pays d’Aix: Popadic 3, Gagulic 2, Saux 2.
Sete – Nice 9:17 (3:5, 2:5, 2:3, 2:4)
Sete: Mijuskovic 3,Kopeliadis 2, Furman 2, Chandieu 2.
Nice: Butic 5, Cakic 3, Bachelier 3, Canovas 1, De Nardi 1, Gardikas 3, Nardon 1.
Bordeaux – Reims 8:11 (3:4, 0:1, 2:4, 3:2)
Bordeaux: Lincheneau 3, Knezevic 1, Perrin 1, Gonzalez 1, Toth 2.
Stade de Reims: Pesteric 3, Krivokapic 2,Kovacic 2, De Bie 1, Lambert 1, Caraj 1, Calic 1.
Montpellier – Douai 10:10 (5:2, 3:3, 2:2, 0:3)
Montpellier: D.Zivkovic 3, Ivankovic 3, Delas 2, Mustur 1, Kalinic 1.
Douai : Bouet 3, Vitrant 2, Balaz 2, Spooner 1, Vandamme 1, Lepoint 1.
Played earlier: Noisy-le-Sec – Strasbourg 13:12
Marseille bye
Last weekend, Pays d’Aix and Tourcoing were very busy in the LEN Euro Cup Qualifications. After a lot of exciting matches and unusual happenings, Tourcoing won 1st place in Group A in Barcelona. Pays d’Aix was the host of group C and finished 2nd, behind Vouliagmeni.
Encouraged by successes at the European stage, the two teams played one of the crucial matches in the battle for the playoffs berths in the domestic championship.
Pays d’Aix earned an early 1:0 lead. However, Tourcoing had a slim advantage (2:1) after the first quarter. The visitors equalized twice (2:2, 3:3), before the hosts earned a 2-goal lead for the first time (5:3). Just eight seconds before halftime, Vlado Popadic converted a penalty, and the visitors halved the gap (4:5). The hard battle was continued in the same way after the middle break. The third period belonged to the visiting team, and the teams were at the same starting point before the final eight minutes (6:6). Tourcoing’s Miroslav Randjic scored his third goal for 8:6 with 02:47 minutes to go. Just 22 seconds later, Popadic responded for 7:8. But, in the final two minutes, defenses dominated and Tourcoing saved a minimal lead.
Most of the other games of Day 9 were played on Saturday and Sunday. After a lot of twists and turns, Montpellier and Douai shared the points 10:10. Reims beat Bordeaux 11:8, while Nice achieved its first win in the season. Nice, led by Zvonimir Butic, recorded a convincing away victory over Sete.
Day 11
Marseille – Douai 17:9 (5:1, 4:2, 4:3, 4:3)
Marseille: Prlainovic 4, Izdinsky 3,Vukicevic 3, Camarasa 2, Vernoux 2, Spaic 1, Crousillat 1, Kovacevic 1.
Douai: Bouet 3, Begovic 1, Michel 1, Spooner 1, Blanchard 1, Balaz 1.
Marseille continued its winning streak. The LEN Euro Cup winner had no problems in defeating Douai 17:9 in the first match of Day 11. Andrija Prlainovic topped the scorers’ list with four goals. Michal Izdinsky and Ante Vukicevic added three each.
1 Marseille 10 – 30
2 Noisy-le-Sec 9 – 22
3 Strasbourg 9 – 18
4 Pays d’Aix 8 – 13
5 Tourcoing 8 – 13
6 Montpellier 8 – 13
7 Douai 9 – 12
8 Reims 9 – 9
9 Nice 8 – 4
10 Sete 8 – 3
11 Bordeaux 8 – 0
