02.05.2008, 09:39
Kiel near the German title

THW beat Nordhorn 34:24 just four days before the CL final and stay one point clear of Flensburg.

Kiel near the German title

Just the time when Ciudad Real celebrated their third Spanish title by beating Barcelona in the decisive match, THW made a great step towards their 14th German title: the second CL finalist won on home court against HSG Nordhorn by 34:24 (16:11). Kiel are still one point ahead of SG Flensburg-Handewitt when the last two rounds are coming up in the Toyota Bundesliga.

After nearly losing against Berlin on Sunday, Kiel showed a totally different performance against Nordhorn in front of 10.250 spectators in the sold out Sparkassen Arena. Only at the beginning of the second half did Kiel show some weakness against the finalist of the EHF Cup preparing for a game with Copenhagen this weekend.

The best Kiel player right before the first CL final in Ciudad Real was left winger Dominik Klein. He scored six goals (just as Nikola Karabatic) and he also took Nordhorn’s best scorer, Holger Glandorf, out of play by great defending. The match against Nordhorn was very special for Kiel as HSG were the last team to beat THW in the league (in December). But in the re-match is it was very early obvious who would be the winner – even though Kiel didn’t play with full speed.

After the 10:9 Kiel showed a series of 6:2 goals before the halftime whistle. After the break Nordhorn equalised once at 17:17, but Kiel overran the opponent after that. Within 14 minutes Kiel decided the match at 27:19.

The last nine minutes were only about celebration as the fans were singing “German champion, German champion”.

At the end coach Noka Serdarusic could spare some of the key players such as Nikola Karabatic or Kim Andersson for the Ciudad match.

“The most important was to stop Holger Glandorf and he only scored one goal,” said Serdarusic after the match.

“Even as we had some bad minutes in the beginning of the second halftime, we played well. But it was hard work for us. We played well in defence, but we were not 100% in attack. Maybe the ten-goal difference was a little too much. Now we have to concentrate on Ciudad Real.”

TEXT: Björn Pazen