52:47-win in the Hesse Derby against Frankfurt
Awesome in defence, noticeable deficits in the offence. This was the tag-line for RSV Lahn-Dill this weekend at the Hesse-Derby on the sixth game day in the Wheelchair-Basketball Bundesliga hosted by Mainhatten Skywheelers. The game offered the spectators all the ingredients necessary for an exciting derby: tension, intensity and emotions. In the end the outcome was a 52:47 (14:20/31:28/39:38) success for the Wetzlar team in the Franz-Boehm-Sporthalle.
“We kind of slumbered the first couple of minutes away” says RSV-Coach Nicolai Zeltinger on the eve of his 41st birthday, obviously unhappy with his team’s performance in the first eight minutes of the match. At this point in the game the Skywheelers were already leading 18:8, before again it was down to Thomas Boehme’s appearance on court that there was a change of direction for the Middle Hesse team.
The dozy start of the game caused exactly what RSV were planning on avoiding: Frankfurt, traditionally carried and pushed by their emotions, were mentally on top and caught scent of their first Derby-win in over 17 years. This was topped by an unlucky incident that left Centre Joe Bestwick’s chair with a broken axel and him sitting on the floor next to the court whilst a recovering Dirk Koehler had to take over, despite not being back to his usual strength yet.
Still, the first offensive strike by the Frankfurt team seemed to be overcome by RSV, who improved defensively and took more control over the game therefore taking the wind out of their hosts’ sails. It was Felix Schell in the 13th minute who pushed his team forwards with 5 points to 21:22, before Captain Michael Paye took the lead with two scores in a row and changed the board to a 26:24 (17th min). “In that phase we displayed a spotless defence, that only let 27 points against us happen from the beginning of the second quarter until the final siren.” Head-Coach Nicolai Zeltinger seemed a lot happier after his team found their way to success in this Bundesliga-Highlight.
But even after the changeover the guest team were still lacking offensively. Chances that were hard fought for were culpably missed. They kept the lead until the 35:30 (26th min) but two strong Frankfurt minutes and six points by Johannes Hengst carried the banking city team back into business. When Captain Mikey Paye got a little but well-deserved break, it seemed that the title-defending team was lacking a leading hand. But only a few minutes after the American’s return RSV had turned around the game again (47:42, 36th min) and put a lid on this exciting even though not high-class game. This was also down to the fact that Frankfurt was not able to put enough pressure on the opposition as first Lars Lehmann and then Centre Sebastian Wolk had to leave court due to their intense play and therefore high number of fouls.
In the end the RSV succeeded mainly down to strong performances by Michael Paye and Thomas Boehme, but still, the Coaching Duo Nicolai Zeltinger and Ralf Neumann will have a lot of notes and comments on their team’s offence ready to be discussed in the next training session. Due to their first home-defeat Frankfurt is now out of the leading quartet in the Bundesliga and as Thueringen and Zwickau were also successful, it is now shrunk to a leading trio. RSV Lahn-Dill will travel to Hamburg next Sunday to play against the last in the table, Hamburger SV.
Frankfurt: Sebastian Wolk (14), Sebastian Magenheim (13), Johannes Hengst
(10), Andi Kress (4), Lars Lehmann (4), Benjamin Lenatz (2), Anne Brießmann,
Maria Kühn, Jan-Niklas Neuroth (n.e.).
Lahn-Dill: Michael Paye (21), Thomas Böhme (13), Felix Schell (6), Dirk
Köhler (5), Thomas Gundert (2), Jan Haller (2), Gesche Schünemann (2), Björn
Lohmann (1), Joe Bestwick, Christopher Huber, Marco Zwerger, David Amend
(n.e.).