BVB women grind out hard-fought 31-30 victory in Bad Wildungen | OneFootball

The Borussia Dortmund women's handball team only narrowly avoided dropping points in their clash away to second-bottom club HSG Bad Wildungen. With great difficulty, the Black & Yellows managed to see out a narrow 31-30 (15-16) win. After a poor first half, BVB surged into a five-goal lead by the 55th minute and looked the likely winners – but ultimately struggled to get the victory over the line.

In the end, it panned out the way BVB head coach André Fuhr had predicted. One must not underestimate Bad Wildungen at any cost, the side second from bottom are much stronger than the statistics suggest, Fuhr had said. And it was only thanks to a significantly improved performance after the break that the Borussia Dortmund women's handball team ultimately wrapped up a hard-fought 31-30 (15-16) win. BVB boss André Fuhr was not overly impressed by his team's weak display, which came three days before their Champions League play-off return leg away to French champions Metz Handball.

Fuhr was without Haruno Sasaki of Japan (Corona infection) and Fatos Kücükyildiz (ankle injury) against Bad Wildungen, but that alone cannot explain away the erratic performance. With 12 minutes on the clock, BVB were already chasing a 7-6 deficit. When Fuhr introduced the Norwegian Frida Rønning in place of Laura van der Heijden, the aim was to inject more momentum into the game. But it did not have the desired effect and the hosts led 13-9 by the 20th minute, forcing the BVB coach to call his first time-out. The defensive gaps were too big, while in the attacking department the finishing was poor and unfocused. Fuhr loudly bemoaned the lacklustre display from his players and the half-time whistle sounded with them 16-15 down.

BVB then finally upped the pressure in the second period, defending more offensively, improving their positional play going forward and taking a 19-17 lead through goals from Freriks, Abdulla and Rønning. But then they dropped off again and Fuhr called a second time-out with the score level at 21-21; his criticism of the playing style could not be ignored (43).

Everything happened rather quickly after that. BVB showed their class and pulled away into a 27-22 lead within five minutes (48). With the score at 31-26, the game appeared to be more or less over (55). But Bad Wildungen then narrowed the deficit to 31-30 with 60 seconds remaining. It was only thanks to the intelligence of captain Alina Grijseels, who played for time in attack, that BVB managed to carry their slender lead over the line.

It was also announced on Wednesday when the game against HSG Bensheim/Auerbach, which was supposed to take place on 23 March but was postponed due to Corona, will be rescheduled for. The match will take place at Halle Wellinghofen at 19:30 CET on 27 April, making it an important dress rehearsal for the top clash against league leaders Bietigheim three days later.

BVB: ten Holte, Kohorst; Grijseels (8/2), van Zijl, van der Heijden (1), Rønning (7/5), Zschocke (5), Gutiérrez Bermejo (4), Moreno (3), Abdulla (2), Freriks (1), Sando, Uścinowicz