Last second draw for Kielce

Three seconds before the end, Rhein Neckar Löwen lost a point against Vive Targ Kielce on home soil. After beating Velenje on matchday 1, the Polish champion surprised again on Thursday evening. Tomasz Rosinski was the Polish hero, as he scored the 29:29. “This was a big point for Kielce”, Löwen goalkeeper Henning Fritz said after this disappointing result for his club. Fritz was one of the main figures aside topscorer Karol Bielecki (10 goals) in this high tensioned match, as he saved 17 shots – but not enough for the Germans to win their second match, after beating Veszprem on matchday 1.

„We missed a lot of changes to decide the game much earlier. Now we have to take this lost point somewhere else“, Löwen coach Ola Lindgren analysed. Olafur Stefansson added: “This was one step back.” More than 3000 spectators celebrated the return of Mariusz Jurasik, who changed the club from Löwen to Kielce before this season – and Jurasik became topscorer of his team with seven goals.

Kielce started strong, and it took 14 minutes, before Rhein Neckar Löwen were in lead for the first time. Even as the host intermediately extended this lead to three goals, the first halftime was mostly equal. Due to the saves of Fritz, Löwen had the better start after the break and were leading mostly with a four goal difference until minute 48. “Every time we had the chance to extend the lead comfortably, we received suspensions and Kielce came closer again”, Lindgren said.

The final stage of the match became dramatically: Alvanos scored the 29:27 for the Löwen, as Rastko Stojkovic hit the net by a penalty shot (one of his six penalty goals) – 29:28. As Bielecki missed the last chance for the Germans, Kielce coach Bogdan Wenta replaced the goalkeeper by a seventh field player – a successful strategy, as Rosinski scored the equalizer right before the end.

Now both teams lead the ranking of group B with each three points after two matches. By winning in Velenje, Bosna Gas can become new number one after matchday on Sunday.