Handball: Kiel clinches important away win in Celje

The THW Kiel has scored an important away win in the fight for a place in the Champions League. The team of coach Alfred Gislason won 28:27 (15:14) at RK Celje after a crazy closing phase and took revenge for their 26:29 defeat of the Slovenian champions in their own arena a week ago.

After a bumpy but successful start to the second half of Group B, the THW is in fifth place with seven points and the first six teams qualify for the knockout round.

The team from Kiel got off to a good start in Slovenia and booked the 23rd place. With a 9:4 minute lead of 9:4. After that, however, the hosts came into play better, especially towards the end of the first half, the THW lost the thread.

After the break, the team from Kiel regained some security and got back into the game. With Patrick Wiencek’s 27:25 goal, Kiel seemed to be the sure winner two minutes to go, especially as Celje was outnumbered. Nevertheless, the hosts, who took out the goalkeeper, managed to equalise 15 seconds before the end. In return, however, Niclas Ekberg scored the Kieler Siegtreffer. The best THW throwers were Ekberg with seven goals and Wiencek with six.