Convincing victory in the East Westphalian derby

TBV dominates against Minden

TBV Lemgo on top form in Sunday's game against GWD Minden, enjoying a well-earned 38:24 (20:12) win in the Gerry Weber Stadion.

TBV began the East Westphalian derby with Martin Galia in goal, Jens Bechtloff, Michael Kraus, Martin Strobel, Holger Glandorf, Florian Kehrmann (who played despite a nasty cold) and Vignir Svavarsson. Sebastian Preiß was missing from the line-up due to a knee injury, which he rested up as a precaution. Daniel Kubes and Ferenc Ilyés came on in defence for Kraus and Strobel. Kraus sneaked a nifty penalty shot past Medhus to score the first goal of the game (1:0) and Martin Galia also put on an extremely strong performance in the opening phase, blocking Minden's first two goal shots. Kehrmann netted the second goal of the game to make it 2:0 and Svavarsson notched up a third following a solo performance across the entire pitch in the 4th minute (3:0). Gylfason then scored the first goal for the visitors who did not seem to want to make use of what may well be their last chance to escape relegation.

Kehrmann's 5:1 in the 6th minute made clear who would be taking home the victory that afternoon in the Gerry Weber Stadion and TBV was clearly the dominant team, with Minden committing a series of simple errors in the offensive in particular. GWD trainer, Ulf Schefvert, called his time-out for the first half after just 7:02 minutes of play when Svavarsson brought the score up to 6:1. Minden subsequently suffered a bitter moment when Rene Madsen injured his thigh after less than eight minutes meaning he had to sit out for the rest of the game.

The first highlight of the day came from Jens Bechtloff when he latter slammed the Kempa lead from key player Martin Strobel into the net with a fantastic lift 8:3 (11th min.). GWD at least managed to reduce the hosts' lead to 9:6 in the 14th minute when TBV was a little too careless with its chances (although this posed no real threat). And the subsequent 11:6 by Kehrmann in the 18th minute brought the first five-goal lead of the game.

Rolf Hermann took over from Holger Glandorf in the right-back position in the 19th minute and the situation remained unchanged: TBV's defence was held strong by an on-the-ball Galia, and Svavarsson got the next goal in to make it 13:7 (21st min.), netting a second –his seventh – less than 30 seconds later (14:7). Katsigiannis consequently took over from luckless goalie Medhus, but Vignir Svavarsson remained unstoppable, scoring what was also his seventh goal of the game in the 25th minute (16:9). Hermann got in his second shortly after to make it 17:9 and Ilyés took on an offensive position, setting up a goal for Bechtloff in the 27th minute (18:10). TBV were the superior team in all respects, but had to use its chances consistently to ensure a clear win. Just before the half-time break, Hermann slammed a goal past Katsigiannis to boost TBV's score further to 20:12. The hosts then went into the changing rooms at half-time with this eight-point lead.

In the second half, Carsten Lichtlein came on in goal for TBV, Mark Schmetz switched with Florian Kehrmann on the outside right and Tamas Mocsai moved into an offensive centre position. Svavarsson received the first time penalty of the game following a foot block, and GWD trainer Schefvert was also awarded a yellow card shortly after for complaining about a penalty was called against his team. Schmetz threw his second successful penalty shot of the game (22:14; 34th min.), at which point the game had long been decided; only the question of the final score remained. TBV suddenly lost its concentration, but Minden proved unable to reap any benefit from this and Mark Schmetz instead increased the point difference even further to 24:16 with two counterattacks within a matter for seconds (39th min.). Mocsai and Schmetz followed up with a goal each (26:16; 40th min.), after which Ulf Schefvert immediately called his second time-out (40:03 minutes played).

The game trickled along, with TBV controlling play and Minden trying to play along. Schmetz netted his eighth goal in the 48th minute to make it an eleven-goal lead (30:19), Glandorf came on again in the right back position, and Ilyés made a nice steal on the pivot line to score the 32:19 and further boost the spirits of the 7,800 spectators. Minden had meanwhile brought Jannik Oevermann on in the outside right position as part of the "youth research" project, which had seen Sören Südmeier give a favourable performance to cover for injured Madsen; Helmdach, another up-and-coming player, also played for almost the entire game.

TBV continued to score undeterred, with Kehrmann acting as advanced player in the 5:1 defence formation. Ilyés made it 34:20 after a solo performance in the 53rd minute and Michael Kraus came on in the offensive in the last five minutes of play. TBV performed with ease and sophistication, and could easily have enhanced the final result further. An easy and unchallenged final score of 38:24 ultimately prevailed, which should lend confidence for the upcoming face-off against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf as well as for the EHF European Cup final against Schaffhausen.