Budva stun Primorac with huge semifinal win in Montenegro

The Montenegrin League playoffs began with a major shock, as Budva thrashed Primorac 18:9 in the first leg of their semifinal.

Budva, winners of the A1 VRL League, produced a superb performance in their home pool to defeat a Primorac side that had gone unbeaten throughout the regular season.

Primorac, runners-up in the Premier League, stayed close during the first half despite Budva leading from the start. At halftime, the hosts were 8:6 ahead, and midway through the third quarter the gap remained only two goals at 9:7.

Then came the decisive spell. Budva scored six unanswered goals in just over four minutes, turning a tight contest into a rout. By the final break, they had moved into a commanding 15:7 lead and went on to close out a stunning nine-goal victory.

Nenad Dragovic and Nebojsa Vuskovic led Budva with four goals each, while goalkeeper Dragoljub Cetkovic also played a key role with 13 saves. For Primorac, Djuro Radovic was the only player to score more than once, finishing with two goals.

Despite the heavy defeat, Primorac are not out of the tie. The semifinals are played over two matches, but the finalist is not decided by aggregate score. If Primorac beat Budva in Kotor, regardless of the margin, the place in the final will be decided by a penalty shootout.

The result was Primorac’s first defeat of the Montenegrin League season. The Kotor-based side had finished the regular season with eight wins from eight and had beaten Budva twice in early May, winning 23:13 and 19:14.

In the other semifinal, Jadran avoided any drama with a dominant 23:9 win away to Buducnost in Podgorica. The match was level at 5:5 after the first quarter, but Jadran took control from there and outscored the hosts 18:4 across the remaining three periods.

Vasilije Radovic led Jadran with five goals, while Strahinja Gojkovic and Jovan Vujovic scored four each.

The return matches will be played on May 18.