Kiel just about clear hurdle in Silkeborg

It was a tough piece of work for THW Kiel, but finally the three-time VELUX EHF Champions league winners took the victory at Silkeborg.

    •    For a second time in a row BSV lost a Champions League match against a German team after Flensburg last week.
    •    THW’s youngest players Nilsson (7) and Bilyk (7) were the top scorers.
    •    Hansen and Espersen both netted six times for BSV.

GROUP A:

Bjerringbro Silkeborg (DEN) vs THW Kiel (GER) 25:28 (9:12)

BSV fought hard until the final buzzer, but the Danish champions remain without a point on home court in this Champions League season so far. One week after the defeat to Flensburg, they were even closer to levelling the result against Kiel.

Bjerringbro started extremely weak and were behind 4:12, before they started their catch-up chase with five straight goals and several great saves by goalkeeper Sören Rasmussen for the 9:12 half-time score.

Backed by the 19-year-old top talents Lukas Nilsson and Nikola Bilyk, who both scored more than 50 percent of all Kiel goals, THW kept the lead in a quite comfortable way. But finally the three-time Champions league winners were shaken by BSV right at the end in this first ever encounter between both sides.

Ten minutes prior to the end, the match seemed to be decided in THW's favour at 26:22. But having this clear gap in mind, the German side lacked concentration. Two seven-meter penalties helped the Danish side's cause and suddenly they were back in the mix.

And with one minute to go, Bjerringbro were 26:25 behind and were hoping for a major sensation, but then the experienced THW stars Christian Zeitz and Blazenko Lackovic netted for the final result and secured Kiel’s second group phase victory.

On Danish ground, their Danish goalkeeper Niklas Landin was the key to stopping Bjerringbro turning the match around completely.

Post-match comments

Alfred Gislasson, head coach of THW Kiel spoke after that match: "
I am very happy that we managed to win here. After a really good beginning, we lost our plan a little bit in the last ten minutes before half-time. After that, it was a really tight game, but we were a few goals ahead.

"Niklas Landin had a fantastic game, and I think he helped us tremendously today. We made too many easy errors in attack today, but I must compliment my team. I’m happy with the result."

Allan Damgaard of Bjerringbro-Silkeborg: "
We struggled a lot to create some chances but we kept fighting, and after 15 minutes we were able to play at a higher tempo and it became more difficult for Landin to save our shots. Then, we had a really good run from the 20th minute to the 30th minute where we scored five goals in a row. Everybody had a really strong believe in ourselves. But it wasn't enough today."