This Wednesday, OGC Nice Côte d’Azur Handball hosted the Metz team for its first postponed match of the LBE playoffs. The encounter ended in a narrow defeat for Marjan Kolev’s Niçoises, 26-27, after a spectacular game.
Unlike the first leg match where Gym suffered a heavy defeat at the Arena of Metz (37-22), the Niçoises delivered a solid performance against the tough Metz team, who are still in the running for the French championship title with Brest, against whom they lost last Sunday (22-27).
A First Half Fifty-Fifty
After the last two defeats against Chambray and Brest, OGC Nice once again had to bring out the big guns against a strong Metz team that it has never beaten in its history. Despite opening the scoring in favor of Marjan Kolev’s players, the Metz team quickly took the lead (2-3; 2-6; 4-9). A timeout was quickly called by the Nice coach. Nice will need to change tactics.
After this short break, the game resumed. The Niçoises tried to attack through Djazz Chambertin and captain Ehsan Abdelmalek. The Egyptian international once again set an example for her teammates, scoring a total of 11 goals on 16 attempts during the game (6-12; 10-15). Nice was still chasing the score at halftime, trailing by 13-16 against Emmanuel Mayonnade’s Metz side.
Fighting Nice Unrewarded
Not all is lost for Nice. Three goals behind, 30 minutes to play, anything can happen. Ehsan Abdelmalek and her teammates continued to put pressure on Metz’s defensive wall. Barbara Moretto converted a penalty and Nice closed the gap to two points with their evening opponent (16-19; 19-20; 19-21). In the absence of Marja Colic, Jovanna Micesvka (Nice) stepped up in goal. The Macedonian international made seven saves to keep Nice in the match. Even better, the home team took the lead on the scoreboard for the first time since the opening goal (22-22; 25-24), thanks to Noémie Lachaud.
At 26-26, with just one minute of play remaining, Nice tried to hang on but Tjasa Stanko, after scoring from a seven-meter throw, dashed Nice’s hopes. With only ten seconds left, the Aiglonnes couldn’t score again.
Thus, it was a heartbreaking home defeat, 26-27, that the Gym concluded this encounter against the impressive Metz team. The valiant Niçoises were not rewarded for their hard work and colossal efforts they demonstrated this evening. However, they can draw inspiration from this performance for their next match against Paris 92 on April 3rd.
