THW Kiel also only played a draw against bottom team Leipzig

AUDIO: THW Kiel disappoints at 28:28 against Leipzig (1 min)

by Florian Neuhauss

The THW celebrated two roaring victories in March against its big rivals from Flensburg. First in the European League, then also in the Bundesliga. But anyone who had hoped that this could be the starting signal for a rapid final spurt would be disappointed. Since then there has been one defeat, one win and now the second draw in the league – against the bottom of the table.

Lukas Zerbe complained about “a slump in the game” and “too many easy mistakes”. The right winger had no explanation for the changeable performances – even within the Leipzig game: “That reflects our whole season. We simply lack consistency. We have to quickly work through what went wrong.”

Even though coach Filip Jicha’s team is plagued by injuries, they are far behind their own expectations. Nobody on the fjord is happy with fifth place in the table. The great hope lies in the European League: The quarter-final first leg at RK Nasice in Croatia is on Tuesday.

A four-goal lead does not give Kiel any security

The Kiel team were actually in a good position right from the start against Leipzig. Lukas Zerbe converted a seven-meter shot to make it 2-0 in the second minute. Just three minutes later, Nikola Bilyk increased the score to 4:1. In the ninth, Harald Reinkind was successful with the score 6:2.

But the THW – he lacks consistency too often this season. The Saxons came closer again goal after goal. In the 19th minute, Franz Semper equalized to 8:8 (23rd). Certainly a special joy for the ex-Flensburg native. The former Kieler Tomas Mrkva in the SC goal was also able to distinguish himself a few times and at one point had six saves, twice as many as his counterpart Andreas Wolff.

With an attack, Leipzig could have taken the lead before the break. But it didn’t come to that – Matej Klima made a technical error (24′). THW could have increased the score to three goals two minutes later, but they also lost the ball. And so the score at halftime was extremely close at 14:13.

Tension until after the final siren

The game remained flawed even after the break. The Kiel team seemed to pull away again and again, including in the 46th minute. But when the score was 22:20, Reinkind missed another chance. One turn of the hand later, Dean Bombač equalized again for Leipzig. On the host side, Gonzalo Perez de Vargas, who replaced Wolff, was now in demand between the posts.

But even the Spaniard couldn’t prevent the guests from taking the lead for the first time in the 54th minute through Bombac (25:24). It remained exciting until the end. Kieler regained the lead half a minute before the end through Reinkind. Shortly before the end there was an equalizer again – which shaky until after the final siren. According to video evidence, there was another free throw for THW. But Bilyk couldn’t take advantage of the extra chance.

Results, table standings and match days at a glance.

A defending champion secured the award and THW Kiel twice. The results of the vote were announced on Monday evening.