Successful dress rehearsal

TBV beats Hanover, turns attention to Schaffhausen

TBV Lemgo goes into the 2nd leg of the EHF European Cup final on Sunday with a 31:25 (16:13) win against Hanover-Burgdorf.

TBV began its revenge for the bitter 1st leg defeat with the following line-up: Carsten Lichtlein, Jens Bechtloff, Michael Kraus, Martin Strobel, Rolf Hermann, Florian Kehrmann and Vignir Svavarsson. Daniel Kubes and Ferenc Ilyés came on in defence for Strobel and Kraus, as usual. Sebastian Preiß sat out once again, resting up a knee injury. TSV equalised following Kraus' opening goal (1:0; 1st min.) in the counterattack, but the latter rapidly followed with a second. Hanover was able to enjoy a stress-free game with little pressure in the Lipperlandhalle, having already earned sufficient points to retain its place in the first league in the previous game. TBV played with concentration from the start however, bringing the score up to 4:1 in the 4th minute already.

Svavarsson's dive in the 6th minute and subsequent lying pass to Bechtloff was representative of TBV's commitment. Hanover attempted to keep up with the pace set by TBV, but this did not stop Bechtloff from netting the 5:1 (6th min.) and 6:2 (9th min.). TSV did not give up and narrowed TBV's lead to just 6:4 in the 11th minute, refusing to admit defeat at this early stage. After a magnificent jump shot, Hermann brought TBV a more comfortable lead (9:5; 14th min.) before Aivis Jurdzs got the 9:7 in for the visiting team with relatively little challenge less than two minutes later.

The 3,451 spectators in the Lipperlandhalle were treated to a top performance from both teams whereby TSV still played a part in the success, as Jurdzs' 10:9 clearly showed (19th min.). After this goal, Volker Mudrow brought Galia on for Lichtlein who had played well to this point; Glandorf also switched with Hermann. Strobel's decisive solo performance in the 22nd minute (12:9) from the second wave brought TBV a safer lead. Ilyés subsequently took over from Kraus in the offensive left back position, and TBV remained the slightly better team, albeit without being able to gain a decisive lead.

23:58 minutes had been played when TSV trainer Frank Carstens called his time-out for the first half (13:10). Lehnhoff's second penalty shot hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced into the goal to make it 13:11 (26th min.). TBV retained the two-goal lead in the following minutes, scoring again only for TSV to follow suit. Volker Mudrow played his green card when just 15 seconds remained on the clock and the score was 16:13. Martin Strobel managed one last throw before the half-time siren sounded, narrowly missing the goal to, meaning that the hosts went into the changing rooms at half-time with a three-point lead.

TBV began the second half with the same line-up as in the final few minutes of the first. TSV enjoyed a better start however, narrowing the lead to just 16:15 in the 33rd minute. Kraus then came on in the centre position, and Strobel played in the left back, netting the first goal of the second half. Bechtloff boosted the score further from the second wave, but the team from Hanover resolutely took advantage of several brief moments of carelessness to remain hot on TBV's heels. Glandorf's double whammy brought the score up to 20:16 in the 37th minute and although he had the upper hand in this phase, TSV's goalie Meyer managed to stop TBV from making it a five-goal lead.

In the 39th minute, Mark Schmetz came on for Kehrmann, and Strobel scored the 21:17 in the following minute with an excellent jump shot. He had to leave the pitch for two minute shortly after during which time Tamas Mocsai came on in the centre position. Kubes joined Stobel on the bench in the first TSV offensive when the visiting team outnumbered the hosts, meaning that TSV enjoyed a two-player advantage for 1:50 minutes. Hanover narrowed the lead to 21:18, but Kraus managed to sneak a shot past Meyer to make it 22:18 (42nd min.). Galia then blocked two completely free throws from Bergmann on the outside right, and Bechtloff got the 23:18 in (43rd min.). The atmosphere in the hall reached its climax at this point.

TSV continued to play unperturbed however, scoring three goals in succession to boost its score to 23:21 in the 46th minute. TBV remained in the lead, but Hanover stubbornly kept up (25:23, 49th min.). Hermann had meanwhile come on for Glandorf in the right back position and the team had to fight hard for every single goal against the visitor's compact 6:0 defence. Daniel Brack attempted to outsmart Martin Galia somewhat arrogantly during his penalty shot in the 50th minute, leading the Czech goalie to "thank" him with a confident save. The first time penalty for the visiting team came for Bergmann in the 52nd minute who tackled Bechtloff extremely harshly during the counterattack. Schmetz netted a throw from the seven metre line, Pauzuolis was sent off in the next time penalty, and the former got another penalty shot in to give the hosts a comfortable lead (28:23; 53rd min.).

Hermann's 29:23 (55th min.) heralded the deciding goal, and TSV trainer Carstens reacted immediately, calling his second time-out of the game after 54:25 minutes of play. Tamas Mocsai moved into the central position for the remaining five minutes, getting in his first goal of the game to make it 30:23. TSV took advantage of a series of minor errors to catch up in the 57th minute (30:25), and Mocsai then netted the final goal just 6 seconds before the game's conclusion to make the final score 31:25.