Return game more than a success
TBV makes easy work of HSG Wetzlar
TBV Lemgo dominates effortlessly against HSG Wetzlar at many points and enjoys a masterful, well-earned 29:18 (16:5) victory.
TBV started with the following line-up: Galia, Bechtloff, Ilyés, Kubes who switched with Strobel in attack, Preiß, Mocsai and Kehrmann. Both Michael Kraus who sustained an adductor injury during Thursday’s training session and may be out of action for up to four weeks and Rolf Hermann, the left-handed player who is still suffering from a persistent rib strain, were seated next to the bench. Two fantastic saves by Galia marked the beginning of play, then Kubes was unlucky in the second wave, hitting the goalpost. The first goal of the game was netted in the 3rd minute by Bechtloff who confidently finished off a nice pass from Kehrmann with a counterattack against Krasavac.
The second goal already caused an uproar in the hall: an overshot pass from Galia was snatched mid-air by Kehrmann and confidently thrown low into the far corner of the goal. When Galia then saved a penalty shot by Schmidt, the atmosphere in the hall could hardly get any better. Both TBV’s defence and attack were on top form and a well-deserved 3:0 by Bechtloff followed in the 6th minute. Salzer scored the first goal for the visiting team after exactly 6 minutes of play.
HSG then got a bit more into the swing of things: the fourth and fifth goals netted for TBV by Ilyés were countered by HSG with three from Christophersen to bring the score up to 5:4. In the 10th minute, the scoreboard displayed 7:4 again however and Ilyés added to this with his third goal to make it 8:4 (11th min.). Lichtlein then came on for a penalty throw against Christophersen – and saved it! TBV was better than the visiting team in all respects and Kehrmann also played the 9:4 over the circle wonderfully in the 14th minute when TBV was outnumbered (Preiß had previously had to leave the court). When Ilyés made it 10:4, visiting trainer Michael Roth laid his green card after exactly 14 minutes of play. TBV made it through the time spent outnumbered without the opposing team scoring any goals however and Mocsai subsequently raised the score to 11:4 (16th min.), showing the team from its very best side. This was again the case with Lichtlein who was able to make his second save of the game, a penalty shot attempt by Smoler.
Wetzlar’s Schmidt then concentrated on marking Mocsai, an opening that Strobel took advantage of to net a double whammy and boost the score to 13:4 (19th min.). TBV was well on its way to a hands-down victory. The hall descended into uproar once more when the two referees, Dedens and Geckert, gave Preiß an extremely dubious second time penalty, yet Valo also had to leave the court for two minutes shortly after. Kehrmann meanwhile came from the outside to make the score 14:4 (22nd min.) and after the time penalty, Mudrow brought Svavarsson into defence and attack for Preiß, and TBV continued to dominate the game almost effortlessly. When Svavarsson scored the 16:4 (27th min.) after a dream pass over the court from Ilyés, Wetzlar had not scored any goals for over 17 minutes; the visiting team’s debacle ran its course. Christophersen finally scored to make it 16:5 after 29:49 minutes – exactly 21:30 minutes after the visiting team’s last goal. The teams went into the changing rooms at half-time with a clear 11-goal lead for TBV, which must have made the break an extremely uncomfortable one for the visiting team.
TBV began the second half with the same line-up as at the end of the first 30 minutes; during a passive warning, Kehrman scored from the circle to make it 17:5 – the game seemed to continue as before. Mocsai had to leave the court after a foul on Christophersen and Allendorf used the ensuing penalty throw against Lichtlein to make it 17:6. Glandorf came on for the first time, but had to leave the court again shortly afterwards following a common foul, which left TBV two men down. HSG threw the ball out of the court when completely unchallenged however and continued to show itself to be completely at odds. In contrast, Galia was on top form against Jungwirth from the outer right and TBV also survived being outnumbered without any goals being scored. Yet the previous consistency in attack was also no longer present in TBV’s play; up until the 38th minute, both teams had only scored one goal each. The second was scored by Strobel when TBV outnumbered HSG; his throw slammed into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal past Weber (who was meanwhile in goal for the visiting team) to make the score 18:6 (39th min.).
The 19:7 (41st min.) by Mocsai was scored in a counterattack when outnumbered after which Galia made another brilliant save against Chalkidis. Christophersen was pretty much Wetzlar’s only attack and he was able to score what was already his seventh goal in the 43rd minute (20:9). Glandorf countered shortly after with his first goal of the game however. In the 45th minute, Lichtlein came on for Galia who had been in brilliant form up until then, and Schmetz covered the right outer wing for Kehrmann. Nothing much changed at this point: TBV dominated the game in all aspects even though the 24:11 by Glandorf (48th min.) was “only” the eighth goal of the second half and HSG could at least perform with a little more gusto. The 26:14 was played very nicely by Svavarsson (51st min.) and TBV retained control at all times on its home turf. Strobel’s 27:14 (54th min.) was the best expression of this; his standing throw slammed into the upper left-hand corner of the goal.
There was a lull in play in the closing minutes of the game, which allowed Wetzlar to bring things to a more balanced close. TBV permitted itself another failed penalty throw and Schmetz had to leave the court for two minutes during which Lichtlein made his third penalty save (thrown by Allendorf this time).The final goal of the game, which brought the final score to 29:18, was a team effort by the two TBV wingmen and a real treat for spectators: Bechtloff scored by Kempa trick with clear access to the goal following a pass from Kehrmann.