It became exciting at the end, but with 30-29 against Eupen, Drenth Groep Hurry-Up recorded its second victory in the BeNe-League handball.
It was not a flawless match for the men of coach Sven Hemmes in front of their own audience in Zwartemeer. Too much went wrong for Hurry-Up, which failed to deliver the final blow to the Belgians from the German-speaking part of the country in the second half. Eupen, which also made its own mistakes, could hope for a better result until the end.
Red for Goncalo Gracio
Hurry-Up only struck in the second half, after entering the dressing rooms at halftime with the score tied at 13-13. The Zwartemeerders already had to make do without the dangerous and fast corner player Goncalo Gracio. The Portuguese was sent off when he hit the face of Eupen keeper Brian Dormann with a penalty throw. He made quite a commotion, but even if he had not done so, Gracio would have been sent off. In that regard, the rules are clear.
Hurry-Up struck immediately after halftime
Instead of Eupen accelerating after the break, it was Hurry-Up that struck. The Belgians botched several attacks in a row in a short time. The loss of ball was punished mercilessly by the Drenthe, who opened up a gap with 16-13 and 17-14. After expanding to four at 20-16, Hurry-Up seemed to have a firm grip on the match. That was not the case. The Zwartemeers were sometimes too sloppy in finishing for that. For example, circle runner Sjoerd Boonstra alternated beautiful goals with a number of misses and too many failures from the corners.
Tension plays tricks on penalty throwers
Due to the sending off of penalty specialist Gracio, other Hurry-Up players had to get involved, but due to the tension they were unable to throw the ball past the Eupen keeper. That led to an exciting final phase, in which the Belgians fought back to 26-25 and 26-26. Eupen’s dangerous shooter Kim Schroeder (six goals) then incurred his third time penalty after a foul and was therefore shown a red card. Hurry-Up struck more directly with one man and took a two-goal lead again.
With 30-28 and thirty seconds left on the clock, the victory for the Zwartemeerders was within reach. They suffered a loss of the ball due to a sloppy, too-fast attack, which brought Eupen within one point. But that was all there was for the Belgians. With just a few seconds left to play, Hurry-Up could no longer avoid the victory.