Much-improved Erlangen loses in Wetzlar

Head Coach Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson motivated his team in his pep talk before the game and demanded that his players give their all. And the first-division club from Franconia followed that plan of action throughout the encounter. The HC was repeatedly able to carve out good situations, aided by far better and much more aggressive covering and a Nikolas Katsigiannis in good form between the posts. HC Erlangen’s failure to take its chances well, a shortcoming that was particularly apparent in the first half, prevented it from coming back into the game before the break. Yet despite trailing by four goals, it was obvious at the end of the first 30 minutes that HC Erlangen had learned its lessons from the defeats in Minden and Leipzig.

Erlangen came back out with a great deal of confidence and much stronger in offense. Driven on by its now much more incisive backcourt shooters, the club from Franconia fought its way back into the game and was almost able to equalize midway through the second half. Slight mistakes in building moves and a Wetzlar goalkeeper who went from strength to strength enabled the home side from Central Hesse to pull away again. Yet the team of captain Michael Haaß, who like Gorazd Skof went into the game with a slight injury, earned the acknowledgment of the home crowd with its fight, passion and commitment. HC Erlangen finally lost its away game against HSG Wetzlar by 23:26.

Aðalsteinn Eyjólfsson commented: “We did a lot of work on honing our defensive play in the past days and I think we did a very good job in that department today. Now we have ten days’ time to improve how we play together in offense and gain added confidence.”