The SG Flensburg-Handewitt has taken the lead in the Bundesliga, while defending champions Rhein-Neckar Löwen are increasingly stumbling.
While Flensburg with a 29:24 (15:12) in the top game against SC Magdeburg on Thursday displaced the matchless foxes Berlin from the top, the lions lost 26:28 (14:14) at Frisch Auf Göppingen, won the third consecutive game defeat and fell back to fourth place.
Meanwhile, the crisis-ridden THW Kiel suffered another unexpected defeat. The record champion, who has to play against Flensburg on Wednesday, lost 27:31 (11:16) to the old champion VfL Gummersbach, threatened with relegation, and is trapped in the gray mediocrity after his fifth defeat of the season.
On Thursday, the SC DHfK Leipzig also scored a 35:21 (17:8) victory at the Eulen Ludwigshafen. TSV Hannover-Burgdorf replaced the lions (20:6) in third place with a 29:27 (15:11) victory at the TBV Lemgo.
Flensburg and the foxes, who receive HSG Wetzlar on Sunday, both have 23:5 points.
The master from Mannheim has to pay more and more tribute to the brutal strain in “hot” November.
Before the defeats in Melsungen, in the Champions League in Skopje and now in Göppingen, coach Nikolaj Jacobsen’s team had not lost 17 games in a row.
Eight goals from director Andy Schmid were not enough for the lion to win at Frisch Auf. Especially Göppingen’s Tim Kneule (nine goals) couldn’t get a grip on the visitors.
Flensburg had to defend themselves against Magdeburg for 50 minutes, but after a strong performance Flensburg finally won the match. Best SG throwers were Henrik Toft Hansen (6), Thomas Mogensen and Kentin Mahe (both 5).
“I’m proud of the boys,”said Flensburg coach Maik Machulla after the eighth consecutive mandatory victory in Sky:”I could kiss any one of them.”