Huge win surprises Holstebro

No one had probably expected a 16 goals win for Team Tvis Holstebro in the first leg of their Round 3 tie against St. Rafael in the Men´s EHF Cup.
Nevertheless, 16 goals were the difference after the 60 minutes in Gråkær Arena in Holstebro, as the scoreboards in the hall showed the final result 35:19.

Not even the most loyal fans of Team Tvis Holstebro had probably dreamed of a win in that size against a French team who finished second in the Wild Card tournament for the VELUX EHF Champions League as late as September. After the big win which probably reduces the second match to a formality, players and coaches from the Danish club were also rather stunned by the way the match turned out.

This also applied to the head coach, former Denmark international Klavs Bruun Jørgensen

eurohandball.com: Did it come as a surprise to you that the match turned out to be so easy for your team?

Klavs Bruun Jørgensen. Yes, I have to admit that it did I believed that we would have a fairly good chance to win at home, but I had never imagined that we would win that big.

eurohandball.com. So what was the reason?

Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: I believe that St. Rafael had prepared for some 6:0 defence on our part, but we seemed to surprise them from the start with our 5:1 formation which was really aggressive, Our goalkeeper Anders Petersen also got an extremely fine start and kept having a lo tof saves throughout the match -  and when we got ahead 10:1, we did not have many problems left. Being nine goals down away in a European Cup game is never nice, and we could feel that the Frenchmen sort of backed down from then on.

Furthermore, we knew that they had injury problems with no less than three line players, so we had agreed not to focus too much on their line player, but to pay more attention to their backcourt players in stead, and we succeeded with that too.

eurohandball.com: You mentioned Anders Petersen as one of the factors behind your win. What does it mean to a team to have a goalkeeper with all the international experience he has from all his EHF Champions League matches with Kolding in the past?

Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: It means a lot, especially to our many young players and to those of our players who do not have much European Cup experience. It is not only important on the European stage, but also in the domestic league. If you do not have a good goalkeeper, you do not win anything.

eurohandball.com: Being 16 goals ahead, how will your approach to the second match be? Are you simply going for a bathing trip at the Mediteranean Sea?

Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: At least we have to be focused from the start. On their home ground I believe they will come with some more physical pressure, than they did in the first match, but if we can hang on throughout the first half, the second may be a bathing trip. I cannot imagine them being able to catch up with a 16 goal deficit in one half.

eurohandball.com: Anyway you seem to be very close to the group phase. What will reaching the group phase mean to the team?

Klavs Bruun Jørgensen: It will really mean a lot to us to get a series of international matches, as this will really mature our young players and give the team a lot of valuable experience. I only hope to avoid teams such as Rhein-Neckar Löwen or Plock, although a home match against Rhein-Neckar Löwen would obviously attract a large crowd and also be a great experience to us all.

Photo: msfoto.dk