The brilliantly playing Sokol II led over Olomouc by five goals, but lasted only forty minutes and then, as usual, dropped out

Handball players Sokol II Prostějov are on the verge of relegation from the 2nd men’s league of the Czech Republic. In the penultimate round of the 21st round of the South Moravian group of the 2023/24 competition, they outplayed the favored Olomouc for a long time with an excellent performance and held a sensational five-goal lead twenty minutes before the end, but then the promising game slipped through their fingers 25:29 (15:11). And now there is a realistic threat of falling one floor lower to the Moravian-Silesian League.

At first, there was no indication of the unexpected development of the match, which was later seen. The guests, who were much stronger on paper, got off to a good start, turning from 1:0 to 1:4 without the slightest problem, and in the 10th minute they even increased their lead (3:7). At that moment, however, they may have underestimated the outsider, the Hanáci, on the contrary, rose. And so penetratingly that they dominated the rest of the opening half!

The key to this was a huge improvement in the defense, in which all members of the lineup worked at more than one hundred percent. In addition, goalkeeper Jiří Hrubý made a great catch, Jiří Kosin rampaged forward with clutch fire and converted sevens, and Šimon Kintr with quick counterattacks. The clueless opponent suddenly found himself in surprisingly considerable trouble, he had absolutely no idea what to do with it. He just watched in disbelief at the shocking turnaround at half time 15:11!

The Prostějov fighters gradually got into a tremendous euphoria, in which they increased their superiority even more after the change of sides (16:11, 19:14). The result sensation was floating in the air, but until then, the vain Olomouc people uncompromisingly chased it away in the rest of the game. At the same time, it was of fundamental importance that Sokol II’s long-running offensive was completely gone.

From the aforementioned score of 19:14, an endless series of unsuccessful shots followed in the home version, including throwing away a number of clear shots, this key passage was literally picked up by Tadeáš Spěšný. After that, his team-mates significantly accelerated the game and with a string of nine hits in a row at 19:23, mainly from lightning blockbusters, they decided on their expected victory.

Although Ordelt’s men recovered from the huge quarter-hour deficit in the end, it was too late to save the match. The opponent safely kept a greater distance and calmly reached the finish to win – 25:29.

HANDBALL

2nd men’s league WC 2023/24, 21st round

Sokol II Prostějov – HBC Olomouc 1966 25:29 (15:11)

Goal sequence: 1:0, 1:4, 3:5, 3:7, 6:7, 9:8, 9:10, 12:10, 16:11, 16:13, 17:14, 19:14 , 19:23, 23:26, 23:28, 25:29.

Referees: Klvaňa and Weber. Exclusion: 6:3. Sevens: 7/5:5/3. Audience: 90.

Prostejov lineup and goals: Hrubý, Sladovník – Jurik 2, Jurík 2, Korsa, Kintr 4, Bečička 1, Hudeček 2, Šestorád 1, Čižmárik, J. Grepl, Javůrek 3, Nesvadba, Kosina 7/5, Jurečka 3. Coaches: Svatopluk Ordelt and Tomáš Jurík.

Most Olomouc goals: Lešanský 6/1, Filipec 5, Krejčí 4, Kašpar 4/1.

Evaluation of coach Sokol II Prostějov

“We didn’t start well and lost 3:7, but after that our performance improved a lot. Above all, we defended excellently, Olomouc had a lot of trouble with our defense. In addition, Jirko Hrubý caught brilliantly and we converted opportunities up front, which is why the rest of the first half and the beginning of the second went so well for us. We led by up to five goals, then unfortunately they didn’t score a single goal from the fortieth to the fiftieth minute, they scored nine in a row. And that decided it. Our errors in attack and unconverted shots and chances were followed by quick transitions of the guests into attack, which we could not stop. Losing to the second team in the table by four is not bad at all in our position, but when you lead by a lot for so long, the defeat is very sad in the end. Now we are in danger of dropping to last place, and thus a possible relegation. Either we have to score in the final match in Litovla, or Hustopeče must not win in Maloměřice. Hopefully the little one won’t hand it over to Majlont, or we’ll play it ourselves. Alternatively, it doesn’t even have to fall from the bottom of the ranking. We have to believe that everything will turn out well and we will stay in the second league.”

Svatopluk Ordelt, head coach of Prostejov handball players