24.08.2013, 08:51
Handball Esch continue to surprise

The Luxembourg team that reached the Challenge Cup final the previous season beats HK DROTT Halmstad 30:26 in the first leg of their qualification knockout match for a place at the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase

Handball Esch continue to surprise

The journey of surprise package Handball Esch in the European handball world continues.

After the Luxembourg team reached the Challenge Cup final the previous season, becoming the first Luxembourg team to get that far in Europe in any team sport, they are now only a small step away from qualifying for the VELUX EHF Champions League Group Phase.

Led by an impeccable performance of Max Kohl who scored 10 goals, Handball Esch beat Swedish HK DROTT Halmstad 30:26 and will arguably go full of confidence into the second leg next Saturday (31 August).

It was an even affair at the beginning of the match with the score being 12:12 after twenty minutes.

Esch then granted themselves with a two-goal lead and went into half-time with the score at 17:15.

But the match seemed to turn into the Swedish squad's favour with Drott taking the lead at 20:19.

However, the momentum was short lived and neither a timeout taken in the 52nd minute wit the score at 26:24 in favour of Esch nor another timeout in the 57th minute with the score at 29:26 for Esch became a game changer for Halmstad, who had their most successful player in Magnus Persson who scored seven times.

Quite to the contrary Esch powered away to 30:26 and will now go into the second leg bolstered by a four-goal advantage.

The team that advances to the group phase will join Aalborg, Velenje, Flensburg, Hamburg and La Rioja in Group D.

TEXT: EHF / ts