HC Erlangen succumbs to the Warriors from Hanover

HC Erlangen lost its away game this evening against TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, the current league leaders and surprise team of the season so far, by 19:25. After the seventh matchday, the team of Head Coach Robert Andersson is twelfth in the DKB German Handball League.

The Franconian first-division club had set its sights high against top-of-the-table Hanover. An agile defense and once more an extremely strong Gorazd Skof between Erlangen’s posts meant that the club from Lower Saxony, directed in attack by Olympic champion Morten Olsen, found it extremely tough to score. As a result, the game was evenly poised at half-time – the lead kept on changing hands and the league leaders slipped behind again with just one minute remaining in the half. European champion Kai Häfner, who scored eight times and finished as the encounter’s top scorer, equalized seconds before the buzzer.

The run of play was not really much different after the break. The opposing teams remained evenly matched for ten minutes, until more and more errors crept into the visitors’ play in offense. The WARRIORS’ experienced attackers exploited that mercilessly with a 6:1 run and seemed to have wrested complete control of the game. Skof, who saved all three seven-meter penalties by TSV Hanover, helped get the club from Central Franconia back into striking distance (17:20). However, two more passing mistakes by Erlangen as it was building an attack sealed the game. HC Erlangen eventually lost 19:25 against the old and new league leaders from the capital of Lower Saxony.

HC Erlangen will not find the next encounter in a week’s time any easier when THW Kiel, the holders of a record number of German championship titles, comes to the ARENA NÜRNBERGER Versicherung.

Robert Andersson commented: “The coordination between our defense and the goalkeeper was good today. The simple errors we made midway through the second half ruined our chances of taking at least a point away. Now we need to look ahead and give our all against THW Kiel at home in the ARENA this Thursday.”