Eleven goals from Mika Schüler: Dessau end VfL Lübeck-Schwartau's strong run

The difference was efficiency in attack. Dessau converted 74 per cent of their shots, were clinical on the fast break and scored easy goals, including twice into an empty net. The visitors fell just short in this area and at the same time committed more technical errors and turnovers, which gave the hosts exactly the counter-attacks they needed for their game.

The victory was built on Schüler, who scored eleven goals from twelve shots on target and added three assists, and on Philip Ambrosius, who made nine saves and stopped a seven-metre throw. Alen Hadzimuhamedovic contributed four goals from five attempts from the line. For the visitors, Magnus Holpert was the most prominent attacker with nine goals, Leonard Zink scored five and set up four. However, VfL lacked the same assurance from the seven-metre line, where three of five attempts found the net.

For Dessau it is their second win of the season and the end of a run of four defeats, achieved with a squad that had recently been forced to cope with several absences and which also included youth players in the roster. Lübeck-Schwartau, meanwhile, had to accept only their second defeat of the campaign.

50 evenly matched minutes and a run that decided everything

The visitors found their rhythm more quickly. Through early tempo and Einar Nickelsen they moved ahead to 1:3 and 5:7, before Dessau levelled at 8:8 through their own defence and counter-attacks and took the lead for the first time at 10:9 through Simon Sirot. Lübeck responded immediately, extended their lead to 11:13 and forced Vanja Radic to call a timeout. At the break it stood at 16:17, a goal by the visitors in the final second no longer counted.

The second half began with a key moment: Ambrosius saved Paul Holzhacker's seven-metre throw, and Marcel Nowak equalised shortly afterwards. The match remained completely open until 21:21, then Dessau scored three in succession to make it 24:21 and forced Lübeck into a timeout. Schüler took responsibility in this phase from the back court, Yannick Pust exploited the space on the right side.

Lübeck stayed in touch, closing to 25:23 and after 30:25 got back to within three goals. But in the closing stages everything went the hosts' way: with four goals in a row, including two converted seven-metre throws by Hadzimuhamedovic and a goal by Nowak after winning the ball himself, Dessau pulled away to 34:27. The fact that the home side had to cope with a disqualification against Leon Ciudad Benitez shortly before made no difference. Lübeck reduced the deficit in the closing minutes through Zink, Rasmus Willette Houmøller and Sören Hartwich to 37:33.

In the visitors' camp the assessment after the match was clear: We give away a few too many balls up front, then don't really get a grip at the back, and then things move quickly here. Then the arena gets loud and then the game is gone. The role of the crowd was explicitly emphasised: When we fell behind for the first time, it got really loud, and then of course that helps you as the home team.

Both teams are back in action as early as next week: Lübeck-Schwartau host 1. VfL Potsdam on Friday, 16 October, while Dessau travel to TV Großwallstadt on Saturday, 17 October.

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