By Yegor Glebov
While Dinamo Minsk hockey club doesn’t give us many reasons to write positively about its performance in the KHL Championship, Dinamo Minsk handball team have performed rather well in their two games in the current Champions League, making Boris Denič’s players real contenders for entry to the play-offs out of Group C.
Dinamo Minsk head coach Boris Denič noted after the two matches, “It’s always very difficult to start the tournament with a defeat. We played well in the first match, yet lost to PSG. However, we acted well in defence during both halves when playing against Vardar. The Macedonians were ready for our attacks but we played slightly better and achieved the victory.” The Belarus’ champions defeated their guests from Skopje 26:24.
At the beginning of the first half, the opponents could not break the deadlock for a long time, but then Dinamo managed to take an 8:4 lead. The guests, however, collected themselves and struck back with four unanswered goals in a row, restoring the balance, which was kept until the break. After the break, both clubs were unable to establish a lead of more than two goals, but in the last five minutes Dinamo were the stronger team.
This was their first victory in the new version of the EHF Champions League. Dinamo’s Sergey Shelmenko led the way with six goals, with Denis Rutenko, Dean Bombac and Damir Doborac scoring four times each. Meanwhile, Dinamo’s Serbian goalie, Dimitrije Pejanovic, put up a great performance, saving a goal from the guests’ most dangerous attack just 1.5 minutes before the final whistle.
Dinamo Minsk is set to play its next Group C game against Switzerland’s ‘Wacker Thun’ at the Sports Palace on October 10th. The Swiss side lost at home to another FYR Macedonian club, HC Metalurg, 22:23 in the first round.
