VfL Gummersbach took another step towards the European League with a narrow win against TBV Lemgo Lippe.
VfL won the NRW duel on matchday 24 on Thursday evening in dramatic fashion with 28:27 (15:14). Only the video evidence decided whether the game was a win or a draw after the final siren.
Kay Smits was the home team’s best thrower with eight goals, Miro Schluroff shone with five goals and six assists. The man of the game from Gummersbach’s perspective was goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanovic with a strong 13 saves. For Lemgo Lippe, Samuel Zehner and Niels Versteijnen scored the best with six goals each. Goalkeeper Constantin Möstl fended off nine balls.
With the sixth win in a row, VfL consolidated sixth place in the table, which entitles them to take part in the European League next year. TBV Lemgo Lippe also has the best chance of international business in fourth place, but has now suffered its third defeat in its fifth game. Gummersbach and Lemgo are only separated by one point in the table.
Balanced first half
In the duel between the two NRW clubs, the Oberbergische got off to a better start. Ellidi Vidarsson put VfL ahead 2-0 and then made it 3-1. The TBV then took advantage of two Gummersbach errors and quickly equalized 4:4 through Tim Suton.
From then on it was an even game. In defense, the Gummersbachers were always able to rely on goalkeeper Kuzmanovic, but made too many mistakes on offense and caused too many seven-meter penalties, all of which were safely converted by Lemgo Lippe’s Samuel Zehnder. Miro Schluroff gave VfL a three-goal lead (14:11) five minutes before the end of the first half, but TBV fought back to 14:15 by halftime.
Gummersbach can only pull away for a short time
After the break, nothing changed at first. Gummersbach continued to make too many technical errors, but on the other hand, Kuzmanovic ensured that TBV did not take the lead. After 38 minutes, Kay Smits scored to make it 20:18 and once again gave Gummersbach a two-goal lead. Shortly afterwards, VfL even had the chance to pull away with the advantage after Lemgo’s Frederik Simak had to leave the field for two minutes. Curiously, the TBV came back outnumbered and equalized to 20:20 through Hendrik Wagner (40th).
In contrast to VfL, the TBV played out their attacks calmly, but were outnumbered again after 44 minutes due to a time penalty against Lukas Hutecek. This time VfL took advantage of this to pull ahead again with two goals (25:23). TBV coach Florian Kehrmann reacted and took a time out.
No goal for four minutes
After that, however, little happened. It took around four minutes before a team even scored again. And that was the TBV, which was in the majority at this point. Hutecek made it 25:24. Seven minutes before the end, Hendrik Wagner brought the score level again (25:25). At this point, VfL Gummersbach had not scored a goal for six minutes. The TBV took advantage of this to take the lead for the first time in the 55th minute through Niels Versteijnen (26:25).
However, the answer came promptly and Tilen Kodrin ended Gummersbach’s dry spell after more than seven minutes. So it was evenly balanced in the last two minutes of the game. It was national player Julian Köster who put VfL back in the lead with his 500th Bundesliga goal.
Versteijnen scores, but too late
But the TBV had the last attack – and it was dramatic. The Gummersbach defense initially fended off all attacks, so Versteijnen had to take a difficult throw in the last seconds. Kecmanovic parried, but the ball rolled back to Versteijnen, who hit the goal. The referees looked at the video evidence and decided that Versteijen’s throw had only crossed the goal line after the final siren. Gummersbach celebrated a narrow home win.
The VfL Gummersbach will now be a guest at MT Melsungen next Friday (8 p.m.). The TBV Lemgo Lippe welcomes Frisch Auf Göppingen on the following Sunday (3 p.m.).
Our sources:
- Game VfL Gummersbach against TBV Lemgo Lippe from March 5th, 2026
Broadcast: “Gummersbach continues winning streak against Lemgo Lippe”, WDR.de, March 5th, 2026, 9:16 p.m
