SG Flensburg-Handewitt wrestles down TBV Lemgo Lippe

LIVE: Handball Bundesliga live: SG Flensburg Handewitt – TBV Lemgo

by Christian Görtzen

This means that SG coach Ales Pajovic’s team will be in second place in the table after the current 31st matchday. This would lead to participation in the “premier class” after the 34th matchday.

Flensburg turns the game around with a 4-0 run

Four days after reaching the Final Four of the European League, in which they met MT Melsungen in the semi-finals, the Flensburg team failed to start the game against TBV. Emil Jakobsen, for example, put the ball over the visitors’ goal after a counter-attack, and Simon Pytlick and Niclas Kirkelökke also made missed throws from the backcourt and technical errors. After six minutes it was 1:3 against East Westphalia, who narrowly won the first leg 34:33.

Results, table standings and match days at a glance.

TBV coach Florian Kehrmann’s team also did well in the early stages. After conceding goals, she almost played a “super-fast middle” and was still ahead with two goals after a quarter of an hour (9:7). But the SG worked its way into the game: After Lasse Möller, probably the best SG player so far this season, intercepted a high pass from the guests, Domen Novak equalized to 9:9.

Novak stands out from a strong SG team in the first half

And the Schleswig-Holsteiners followed up: Pytlick and Novak made the 4-0 run with more goals and ensured that Kehrmann took a time out (18th). The guests soon equalized, but then the Flensburg team consistently punished every mistake made by the guests – with fast handball and conviction in the end. The strong Novak took the first four-goal lead with 19:15 (27th) – it was the Slovenian’s fifth goal (throw rate: 100 percent). At the break, Flensburg was ahead 21:17.

SG with a strong reaction after a phase of weakness

And just seven minutes after the restart everything was open again with the score at 22:22. The Flensburg team had previously failed in a row due to Urh Kastelic, who had moved into the TBV goal and who shortly afterwards had a save rate of 57 percent. Under the eyes of Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), the people of Schleswig-Holstein stabilized again.

Lasse Möller and Pytlick led the way, Benjamin Buric held strong at the back behind what was now a compact cover – and thanks to a 7-0 run twelve minutes before the final siren, it was back to a five-goal lead (27:23). The SG didn’t let that go in the final phase. The most successful Flensburg player was Pytlick with eight goals.

Final Four drawn in Hamburg

The Final Four in Hamburg at the end of May will feature the same semifinals as a year ago. Back then, Flensburg won the cup.

Northern duel in the European Cup

Thanks to an improvement in defense, the SG celebrated a confident victory against northern rivals Hannover-Burgdorf – and thus booked another ticket for Hamburg.