FTC-Telekom continued their preparations for the new season with a 19-15 friendly victory over Panathinaikos at Nepliget on Tuesday evening.

The meeting brought together the reigning Hungarian champions and last season’s Greek league runners-up, with both teams using the game as part of their pre-season preparations.

Despite the friendly status, the contest remained competitive throughout. Panathinaikos led during stages of the opening half, including at 3-2, before FTC moved ahead 9-8 by the interval.

There was little between the sides during the third quarter. Panathinaikos remained within touching distance and the teams were level at both 11-11 and 12-12 before FTC took a 13-12 advantage into the final period.

The hosts then produced their strongest spell of the evening. With the score still close at 15-14, FTC scored three consecutive goals and eventually took the fourth quarter 6-3 to secure the 19-15 win.

One of the notable features of the evening was the first opportunity to see new FTC centre Konstantinos Kakaris in action at Nepliget. The Greek international opened the scoring and finished with three goals.

He was one of five FTC players to record a hat-trick, alongside Stylianos Argyropoulos, Marton Vamos, Szilard Jansik and Vince Vigvari. Dusan Mandic added two.

For Panathinaikos, Aristidis Chalyvopoulos and Dimitrios Papanikolaou led the scoring with three goals each, while Konstantinos Gkiouvetsis and Dolce added two apiece.

The Greek side converted five of eight extra-player opportunities but also missed two penalties during the match.

The friendly formed part of a three-day period of joint training between the two clubs in Budapest. FTC will next turn their attention towards their Hungarian Cup quarter-final tie against Honved.

Result

FTC-Telekom 19-15 Panathinaikos
(5-3, 4-5, 4-4, 6-3)

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