The SG Flensburg-Handewitt lost the 116th national derby 33:37 (17:23). The two points for THW Kiel were never in danger at any stage of the game, although Lasse Møller had a very strong performance. He scored 14 times.
Aleš Pajović had said to his goalkeepers before the game: "25 saves would be perfect." Benjamin Burić also got his hands on the ball twice. Nevertheless, the home side from Kiel got off to the better start. In the first eight minutes, only Domen Novak scored for the SG - but at least twice. Whereas THW had almost its entire squad at its disposal, the SG had to cope with a short-term absence: Marko Grgić was unable to play. Lasse Møller, Simon Pytlick and Niclas Kirkeløkke were tasked with boosting the positional attack from the backcourt. Emil Jakobsen finished off a second wave to make it 7:9. At the other end, the 6:0 defense had a tough time against Kiel's strong attack, which raced away to 14:8. Only 17 minutes had been played. Kevin Møller now came into the box, Kent Robin Tønnesen was the first new outfield player. The SG were able to slow down the flood of goals for a while, but it was not possible to reverse the trend. The score stood at 23:16 shortly before the break, with Lasse Møller making up for it with his eighth goal.
SG was beaten early
Their own attack was not the problem in the first half. What Lasse Møller produced was even outstanding: He brought his team to within 20:24 with his tenth goal. However, there were then a few missed shots and technical deficiencies at the other end. An opponent with such efficiency exploits that mercilessly. To make matters worse, Lasse Møller had to receive treatment on his shoulder. When he returned, the Dane immediately scored a goal. Before that, however, the SG had conceded a bitter 0:7 negative run. The game was lost. The only thing left to do was to finish the 60 minutes with a halfway decent result. At least they managed a 4:0 run in the meantime. The SG reduced the deficit, scored over 30 goals themselves and managed to keep THW under 40 - but that was as good as it got in this derby. Incidentally, one statistic is worth noting: The first time penalty in this fair derby only came after 51 minutes. The SG even went through without a timeout. Now the stage belongs to the national teams for the time being. The SG will not have to play again until March 27.
