25.11.2017, 07:50
Landin’s saves and Wiencek’s goals break Brest’s resistance

GROUP B REVIEW: THW Kiel leave Belorussian champions clearly behind to earn two important points in the race for the Last 16

Landin’s saves and Wiencek’s goals break Brest’s resistance

THW Kiel take their second home win of this VELUX EHF Champions League season and their second victory over Brest to put them on nine points.

Without their prolific liner player Rastko Stojkovic (knee injury), the visitors never came close, and left beaten by double figures on the back of their 37:30 loss to Flensburg.

    •    Second Champions League home win for THW, and first since 27 September
    •    Fourth Brest defeat in a row against a German team
    •    18 saves from Niklas Landin were key for Kiel
    •    Wiencek scores seven for THW; Bilyk and Vujin six each
 
GROUP B:

THW Kiel (GER) vs HC Meshkov Brest (BLR) 33:23 (15:10)
 
Brest seem to not match up well against the two German clubs in Group B.

After the Belarusian champions lost the first leg against THW and both games against Flensburg, this was yet another defeat to a German club.

Kiel celebrate their second home win after the 27:26 against Aalborg in September and after an straight-forward match, which ended 33:23; this was their largest victory all season.

With nine points on their account now, Kiel overtake Kielce and are on a good path to the Last 16 and have gained confidence for the Champions League derby against Flensburg on Wednesday - their last international match of this shaky 2017 year.

Up to the 7:7, Brest were keeping up with the German side, but then - and in contrast to the thrilling first leg (25:24), THW easily took the upper hand by six goals in a row making it 13:7.

After their home defeat against Celje and the Bundesliga defeat in Gummersbach, THW showed a different face.

Backed by strong goalkeeper Niklas Landin (43 per cent save ratio) and the fact that Brest could not stop THW’s back court stars such as Marko Vujin and line player Patrick Wiencek, the gap was five goals the break and double figures for the first time at 29:19 in the 49th minute.

Only the finger injury of left wing Rune Dahmke was the single black spot on Kiel’s white jerseys.

“It looks OK, I will be able to play on Wednesday,” said Dahmke, adding: “It feels good to have a clear win again after two really weak matches against Celje and Gummersbach. I hope we are back on track now; putting an end to this roller coaster ride.”

His coach Alfred Gislason was happy too: “Despite some shaky matches, I'm not worried about my job,” he said to German TV station SKY, adding: “The defence and the impressive saves of Niklas Landin were key. In attack, we were quite good, but it is hard to replace our stars Duvnjak, Weinhold and Dissinger.”

Sergej Bebeshko head coach of Brest felt "Kiel played very well and made the best out of our mistakes. Landin was great, and so we lost by 10 goals. Nevertheless, we are looking forward our match against Celje."

TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc