Invicta finish 6th in Europa Cup 2006
British 2004/05 National League champions Invicta Sharks,
from Kent, finished 6th in the 2006 Europa Cup last weekend,
held in Prievidza, Slovakia. This is korfball’s equivalent
of the Champions League – a tournament for the champion
clubs of each European country. Invicta had qualified for
the finals after coming through the qualifying rounds last
October.
Invicta opened their campaign with a match against the team
from Orel, who won the East European first round pool. Whilst
the first half was relatively close, mistakes in giving possession
away were punished severely and meant that the Kent team was
behind at half time. In the second period things got even
worse and although Invicta got within 3 goals midway through
the second half they fell away badly and were eventually soundly
beaten 13-25. The margin of this defeat effectively put paid
to a chance at third/fourth place - which means the GB champions
of the current season will have to qualify next year via the
first round tournament.
In their second match Invicta looked a completely different
team from the first match. Small alterations to the ends made
all the difference and the team played very well in the first
half against the Belgian Champions Riviera, going in at half
time only 5-8 down. However, it all went wrong for them in
the second half managing only a goal in the 39th minute and
another 38 seconds from the end to lose 7-22.
In the day’s final match Orel clinched a place in at
least the bronze medal match after beating the bronze medallists
from last year - Benfica.
On day 2 Invicta only had one game - against last year’s
bronze medallists Benfica. Trailing 9-11 at half time they
fought back well and eventually took the lead inside the last
two minutes and held on for a well deserved victory. The game
was not without its controversy, however, when late on in
the first half a late signal from the scorer after a Portuguese
request for a time-out was correctly overruled by the referee.
Benfica stopped but Invicta played on and a long pass from
James Macdonald found Sara-Jane Hubbard free under the korf
and she scored. This gained Invicta a place in the 5th/6th
place playoff.
The final game in the pool had the Russians from Orel play
Riviera from Belgium. This was a real thriller which saw the
game still level with 80 seconds to go before the Belgians
scored the decisive goal. The Russians had one chance to draw
level again before the Belgians ran down the clock and scored
once more with 1 second left to win 15-13.
In their final match, Invicta had to settle for 6th place
after losing the 5th/6th playoff against Znojmo from the Czech
Republic. British teams seem to have fared badly against the
Czechs in recent years and this was no exception as Invicta
allowed Znojmo to open out a 6 goal advantage. A much better
second half performance brought the Kent side back into the
game, narrowing the gap at one time to one goal, but finally
the task was too much and they lost 13-16.
The Russians from Orel showed what a potential force they
will be for the future after a convincing display against
Adler Rauxel from Germany. They clinched their first ever
medal in a major IKF event with a 21-12 win.
In the final PKC proved far too strong for Riviera, who were
playing in their first ever Europa Cup final. Although the
Belgians kept in touch until late in the first half, they
were restricted to just 3 goals in the second period and PKC
won 20-9.
Results:
Thursday January 12th
Riviera (Belgium) - NC Benfica (Portugal) 22 - 9
Invicta (Great Britain) - Orel (Russia) 13 - 25
Prievidza (Slovakia) – PKC/CafeBar (The Netherlands)
6 - 32
Znojmo (Czech Republic) - Adler Rauxel (Germany) 12 - 14
Riviera - Invicta 22 - 7
NC Benfica - Orel 11 - 16
Friday January 13th
SKK Prievidza-TJ Znojmo 15-20
PKC/CafeBar - Adler Rauxel 25-8
Invicta Sharks - NC Benfica 21- 20
Orel OSTU - Riviera KC 13-15
SKK Prievidza - Adler Rauxel 13-21
PKC/CafeBar - TJ Znojmo 25-12
Saturday January 14th
7/8 place SKK Prievidza - NC Benfica 13-15
5/6 place Invicta Sharks - TJ Znojmo 13-16
3/4 place Adler Rauxel - Orel OSTU 12-21
1/2 place PKC/CafeBar - Riviera 20-9
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