In the absence of ten potential regular players, MT Melsungen suffered its first main round defeat in the European League. The North Hesse team’s assistant coach will be on hand against HC Vardar.
MT Melsungen suffered its first setback in the European League on Tuesday evening at HC Vardar in Skopje. The North Hessians, who traveled to the capital of North Macedonia without ten potential regular players and played with a motley crew, ultimately lost 33:37. MT still remains in first place in the table and still has a chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
Due to the staff shortage, the MT had already announced that it would field many youth players and reservists. The 41-year-old assistant coach Isaias Guardiola was once again on the floor in Skopje. The B youth coach also collected playing minutes with Max Pregel, who usually helps out in the second team.
MT starts strong
Thanks to a concentrated defensive performance, the hosts initially hardly had any good opportunities. What came through was parried by Laszlo Bartucz. The North Hessians were callous in the attack. Even the loud atmosphere in the Sports Center in Skopje did not impress the MT youngsters and led early with 10:4 (13th). In the last five minutes of the first half, the guests were no longer able to control the increasingly strong home team.
Skopje also came out of the locker room better and took the lead straight away. As a result, a quick match developed at eye level, in which Melsungen had to keep upping the ante. Skopje pulled away in crunch time because MT also received too many time penalties and lost too many balls.
