Handball: Foxes stumble, Master marches

The Rhein-Neckar Löwen have taken advantage of the first slip of the foxes in Berlin in an ice-cold way and reclaimed the Bundesliga’s lead in the standings.The men from Mannheim scored their seventh consecutive victory in a tricky away game at HSG Wetzlar with a commanding 31:24 (14:10) and profited from the first defeat of the capital city club when they jumped to the top.

“It’s always good to be number one.But it’s still early in the season,”said Lion coach Nikolaj Jacobsen on the Sky microphone.The team is in a “very good phase, in which we make many right decisions.It’s hard to complain about something these days.”

The Berliners, who had previously set their own start record with eight victories, lost their white vest with a 27:33 (14:17) at TSV Hannover-Burgdorf.The foxes showed unusual weaknesses especially in the defensive and never recovered from the fast 7:13 deficit (20th).They are now on second place with the lions (both 16:2) because of the worse goal difference.

“You have to be honest. We didn’t get a chance today.We couldn’t get access in the back and couldn’t find any solutions in the front,”said Fabian Wiede, Berlin’s international.

Hanover, which stumbled after five victories at the start of the season, is now down to 14:6 points in the upper third of the standings.The convincing TSV success was guaranteed by Casper Mortensen (9 goals) and Morten Olsen (7).For Berlin, backroom player Petar Nenadic scored the most frequently (9).

The lions left nothing to burn in Wetzlar, where the THW Kiel lost considerably three and a half weeks ago.After a 5-6 deficit in the opening stages, the champions of the past two years scored a 7-0 run to keep their opponents at bay, with Andy Schmid once again outclassing the competition with twelve goals.At Wetzlar, left-winger Maximilian Holst met five times.

In the basement, GWD Minden celebrated a clear 33:22 (16:8) win against HC Erlangen and gained a small cushion on the relegation places.

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