The second away game of the season brought the first away win for the SG Flensburg-Handewitt. Against Frisch Auf Göppingen, a team that finished in fifth place just ahead of the SG last season, the visitors won 25-23 (12-9). "The team showed that it wants to play at the top," SG coach Ljubomir Vranjes said afterwards. "It was only a small step though. We can play better."
The SG had a good start with only one goal against in the first nine minutes. Solid defence work with Tobias Karlsson and Michael Knudsen in the centre was the key to success, supported by Mattias Andersson who saved a penalty attempt. The offence, however, took a while to start scoring, making it a close and low-scoring game. Lars Kaufmann gave his team the first lead at 5-4 against his former teammates.
"It was a hard-fought game with Göppingen playing a really good defence," Vranjes said. "Our defence worked pretty good as well though." With five minutes left in the first half, the SG had the first two-goal lead at 10-8 and even made it a three-goal lead at halftime when Holger Glandorf scored with two seconds left.
Lasse Svan Hansen then scored to start the second half but Göppingen was able to make it a one-goal game once again. Both Karlsson and Knudsen served two two-minutes suspensions each and they had to take a step back, allowing Göppingen to score some goals. At 19-18, Thomas Mogensen took the ball and went through the defence to calm down his team and the fans a little.
In the following minutes, it remained a close game and the home team even had a chance to tie the game, only to be denied by Andersson once again. With 86 seconds left, Djordjic scored his third goal in a span of ten minutes to give the SG a 24-22 lead that was enough to secure the win in the end.
FA Göppingen – SG Flensburg-Handewitt 23-25 (9-12)
FA Göppingen: Tahirovic (3 saves), Rutschmann (from 31.; 7 saves) – Thiede (3), Schöne (1), Späth (1), Mrvaljevic (4), Haaß (3), Horak, Anusic (1), Lobedank (1), Markez (3), Rnic (1), Schubert (5/3)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt: Andersson (15/1 saves), Rasmussen – Karlsson (1), Eggert (3/3), Glandorf (5), Mogensen (6), Svan Hansen (3), Djordjic (3), Heinl, Kaufmann (2), Knudsen (2)
Referees: Immel/Klein (Tönisvorst/ Ratingen); Suspensions: 12:14 Minutes (Karlsson 6, Knudsen 4, Glandorf 2, Kaufmann 2 – Anusic 4, Schubert 4, Haaß 2, Lobedank 2); Red Card: Karlsson (60.; third suspension); Penalty throws: 4/3:3/3 (Andersson saves against Mrvaljevic); Attendance: 4900
Timeline: 1:0 (1.), 1:2 (6.), 3:2 (11.), 3:4 (13.), 4:5 (15.), 6:5 (18.), 7:6 (20.), 7:8 (23.), 8:8 (25.), 8:10 (26.), 9:10 (28.) – 9:13 (31.), 10:14 (33.), 12:14 (35.), 12:16 (38.), 13:17 (39.), 15:17 (41.), 15:19 (44.), 18:19 (47.), 19:21 (50.), 21:22 (53.), 21:23 (54.), 22:23 (56.), 22:24 (59.), 22:25 (60.)
