Handball Bundesliga club Flensburg-Handewitt won the 112nd state derby against the THW Kiel with 36:33 (19:17) on Saturday. The SG had already triumphed in the first leg. Due to the deserved success, Flensburg remains in the extremely exciting race for the championship.
“Derby winner, derby winner, Hey, Hey”, it was a good minute before the final siren through the Flensburg arena. The SG made the title race even more exciting in the handball Bundesliga: the first six teams are within a range of four minus points. The new leader after the 23rd matchday is the foxes Berlin, second the TSV Hannover-Burgdorf (both 37: 9) points. The THW (34:12) takes fourth place, the SG is very close to the northern rival with 33:13 points.
Flensburg had already won the first leg in Kiel last November 37:33. Due to the current success – the fourth derby victory in series – the hosts spoiled his last national derby to the THW captain and birthday child Patrick Wiencek.
Flensburg-Handewitt Immediately in the track
The Flensburgers started the game similarly as three weeks ago against the MT Melsungen. And they delighted their fans similarly quickly – in the sixth minute, for example by goalkeeper Kevin Møller, who parried a seven -meter by Bence Imre. The 6-0 coverage of the SG was also compact, and the switching game was straightforward. After a nice pass by playmaker Jim Gottfridsson, who will move to Szeged after twelve years in Flensburg at the end of the season, Lukas Jørgensen provided the hosts for the first three-goal lead (9: 6, 14th) of the host.
Kiel held against it and came up to 8: 9 through Magnus Landin, but again the SG pulled away from Gottfridsson and Emil Jakobsen to three goals. Wolff was not a factor in the “zebras”. Apparently, THW coach Filip Jicha saw this: After 20 minutes, Tomas Mrkva for the German national goalkeeper (parade quota only 13.3 percent) moved between the posts.
THW Kiel comes before the break
Flensburg was the better team in the first half. In the defense, the hosts brought Kieler again and again through enormous attention and uncompromising in situations in which they had to take throws to prevent a time game. A minute before the break, the SG conquered the ball and, by Johan Hansen, ensured the first four-goal lead by counterfeiting (19:15).
Despite the short of the time, the Kielers halved in the first round, however, the gap by gates from Domagoj Duvnjak and Mrkva, who hit the empty SG goal just in front of the break – only 17:19 from the record champions’ point of view.
Flensburg as unleashed – Møller a strong backing
The Czech MRKVA was also in the THW goal at the beginning of the second section. And he was also duped by a turner by Jørgensen – 24:20 for Flensburg (36th). A little later, Duvnjak pulled the anger of the Flensburg audience when he tried to pull a striker foul. The experienced Croatian was clearly in the movement. His team came back to one goal again (24:25), but after that Kevin Møller again became a strong backing of the SG.
At the Flensburgers, Gottfridsson offered his best seasonal performance. After the SG had achieved 29:26, Jicha again ordered Wolff into the goal (48th). But the SG was actually in the frenzy. A little later, Johannes Golla took care of the first five-goal lead (32:27, 51st). Jicha had to react – immediately! He immediately took the time out, took a short cover against Gottfridsson and Lasse Møller.
THW Kiel makes it exciting again
The latter beyond this almost six minutes before the end of this and scored the 34:28 for the hosts – it looked like a preliminary decision. But it wasn’t that far: Kiel came back, scored three times in a row, and so the Flensburg only led two and a half minutes before the end with 34:31. SG coach Ales Pajovic took his last break.
The ball was lost in the following attack, but let Møller caught the Kiel Pass – that was the derby victory! Soon the party started in the arena.
