Day 12, Group B – Spandau 04 Berlin (GER) v Genesys OSC Budapest (HUN) 7-11
From time to time, OSC showed some potential – like playing a draw with Brescia after coming back from four goals down –, what they were missing was winning matches. They had a single victory in 11 rounds (and four draws) – while Spandau could catch Jug in Dubrovnik, Marseille at home, and after Jug’s draw with NBG, the Germans could have cut the gap to two points with a win.
However, they were not even close. OSC took the lead early on and never let Spandau go in front. The Magyars led 2-3 after eight minutes, then scored twice deep into the second to gain a three-goal lead which they kept till halftime (4-7). Then in the third they produced another great spell, killed man-downs then scored from action immediately, they could even afford to miss a penalty, still led 4-9. This 12-minute phase produced a 1-5 rush from OSC and that ultimately decided the outcome.
Vince Vigvari’s man-up goal 47 seconds into the fourth gave a 5-10 lead to the visitors and even though Roman Shepelev pulled two back from man-ups, Vigvari netted his 6th with 2:17 to go to secure OSC’s first away win of the season.
This also made the lower ‘house’ as tight as possible, Spandau have 11 points, the other three teams, Sabadell, Marseille and OSC are all at 10 – still, there is no such scenario which would see the Hungarians go to Belgrade. There is one for Spandau: to beat Sabadell at home (not the biggest challenge), then Novi Beograd in Belgrade (the biggest of all) – and Jug also need to lose their remaining two matches. Sounds miraculous – and it would be indeed miraculous if Spandau make the cut.
How they saw it
Athanasios Kechagias, coach, Spandau
“As usual, I have to review the video to make a well-founded recap of this game. What I can tell now that we had the chance to come back many times, but our shots were not good at all. This was our main problem, but I cannot see any special reason for that, we weren’t nervous or something similar. We just need to analyse what happened and why it happened this way.”
Daniel Varga, coach, OSC
“We can be satisfied with the three points since we beat a very good Spandau. Our defence was great, we had a fantastic performance from our goalie, we had blocks and steals, these were the key for our victory. But now all we have to do is looking forwards to the next really important matches, especially at home.”
