Skenderovski basks in Zelezarec's 'deserved' win

KMF Zelezarec Skopje coach Vasko Skenderovski hailed his players after winning UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round Group E on goal difference while AGBU Ararat Nicosia FC's Ara Bedrossian said his side's progress to the main round might not be the limit of their run.

KFUM Futsal Oslo had temporarily moved three points clear of the hosts in Skopje after defeating Istanbul Üniversitesi SK 7-3 in Sunday's early game. That left Zelezarec needing a win against KMF Danilovgrad, out of contention due to the previous result, and Zoran Leveski, Martin Todorovski and Marjan Stefanovski struck before Igor Četković's late consolation.

Next month Zelezarec travel to Slovakia for main round Group 1 to face hosts Slov-Matic Bratislava, FC Kobarid of Slovenia and top seeds Sporting Clube de Portugal and coach Skenderovski told UEFA.com: "I want to congratulate all of my players who truly deserved first place in a very tough competition. We were aware that today's match against KMF Danilovgrad is going to be one of the hardest. The Montenegrin team played very well even though their hopes of finishing top were over."

The other section to end this weekend was Group D, clinched before Saturday's deciders by hosts AGBU Ararat. They were able to afford a 4-0 loss to FC Levski Sofia West in their last game, with goalkeeper Lyubomir Todorov inspired for the Bulgarian side and Stanislav Vasilev a continuous threat and scoring a hat-trick. SD Croatia Berlin had beaten FC Anzhi Tallinn 7-3 to more level on points with Ararat but the Cypriot team beat the German representatives 3-1 in their first fixture.

Bedrossian will now take his side to Ukraine for main round Group 2 against hosts FC Time Lviv, Athina '90 of Athens and fellow preliminary round qualifiers KMF Orlić Sarajevo. He said: "I have seen all of our three rivals. Time Lviv are very strong and very good technically. But if we work hard from now until then, I am very sure we can beat Athina and Orlić to take one of the two top places in the group. I am confident that we can qualify from that group but a lot of hard work and a good run is needed."