23.11.2007, 10:56
No tension, just Flensburg's gala

Zaglabie Lubin could not repeat their sensational performance at home; Flensburg clinch Main Round.

No tension, just Flensburg's gala

The bus journey was long, the tension was soon eased. After a 10-hour travel, Flensburg reached an easy (34:19) victory against Polish champions, Zaglabie Lubin. The match that promised a lot of tension in the “Glogowskie Obiekty Sportowe” turned into a “promotional tour” all of a sudden for the Bundesliga team and the coveted Main Round place got far from the Poles within minutes.

“The team showed with an impressive performance for 60 minutes,” said a happy Flensburg manager, Fynn Holpert, “that they belong to the Champions League and they are up to the level of the best European teams.”

Who expected an exciting confrontation of the Polish 3:2:1 defence and Flensburg’s 6:0 wall, had to be disappointed. Lubin’s coach, Jerzy Szafraniec, already had to put the green card on the table after nine minutes. Not even the time-out helped and despite having such good backcourt players as Bartolomiej Jaszka and Michal Kubisztal, they were unable to beat the defence specialists, Frank von Behren and Johnny Jensen.

Goalkeeper Dan Beutler also saved 11 shots before half time and the guests made use of the many Polish mistakes with eight quick turnovers before the break.

The guests did not lose concentration in the second half either and they never let Lubin come closer than nine goals. Blazenko Lackovic confirmed his improving form with eight goals, but the biggest star of the evening was Marcin Lijewski, the only Polish player of Flensburg.

“The girls were screaming for his signature as if he was a pop star,” said Fynn Holpert with a smile.

TEXT: Jan Kirschner