Kristianstad has been unusually sluggish in the opening of the handball league, where you lie eight in a row.

In the Champions League handball, the team was also fifth in Group D ahead of tonight's meeting where they were whipped to win against teammate Dinamo Bucuresti. Two points were a must if you were to keep alive the small theoretical chance that you had to move on from the group.

The opening, on the other hand, became dark as the guests from Bucharest were up on a four goal lead in the middle of the first half. However, the Kristianstad defense managed to stop the bleeding and had a goal's underbelly at break.

- We got a good defense game and were able to push up the tempo, said Kristianstad player Olafur Gudmundsson in TV3 Sports broadcast and develops

- We want to push up the tempo and they want to slow down the pace. They want to play long strikes and we bounce up and run on everything like that. There are two completely different playing styles that meet. If we manage to get the tempo up in others, I think we will benefit from it in the end.

Had two-goal lead

In the second half the home team also took from Skåne and put in a higher gear. A quicker pace on the pitch and an effective defense along with big play from goalkeeper Richard Kappelin made it a two-goal lead with three minutes left.

But the Romanian champions came back and managed to keep their fine suite, which went undefeated over eight matches. A late receipt at the last minute of the match meant that Kristianstad no longer has the opportunity to move on at the same time Dinamo Bucuresti is ready for the playoffs.

- I am satisfied. I think we are taking steps out there today both as a team and individually. And if you look at what it looked like today, it didn't look so good either in terms of placement, but the performance was really good from us and that is important, summarizes head coach Ljubomir Vranje's match in TV3 Sport.