LMS-J24 | Toulouse regains 5th place!
At home, the Fénix recovered their heads perfectly by dominating Cesson-Rennes in the second act (34-27). The Toulousains thus recover 5th place in Chambéry.
A week after his rout at Chambéry, the Fenix Toulouse Handball receives Cesson-Rennes at the Palais des Sports André Brouat. A complicated reception, and oh so important to keep 5th place at the end of the season which promises to be difficult to say the least. Although the players from Ville Rose have not lost against their evening opponent since 2014, the Indomitables have a very good team and have had the scalp of several big teams this season.
Cesson gives the first blows
Although deprived of Théophile Caussé, the visitors start the meeting on the hats of wheels. The first Toulouse attacks are approximate, Joze Baznik is immediately present between his posts, and the backs cessonnais very clean in their offensive actions (2-6, 7′). Paradoxically, the two minutes scooped by the Toulouse coach will open a highlight for his team. Three goals in a row revive the machine and establish the mano to mano of this first act (5-7, 11′). At the quarter of an hour of play, the Occitan attack seems to be unblocked while on the other side of the field, Jeff Lettens heats up and shines in particular by covering Robin Molinie criminal security. And if the visitors garden the lead despite the rotations, Sébastien Leriche calls back his men to prevent the tide from turning (10-12, 22′).
But the last moments of this first act will see Erwin Feutchmann and Erik Balenciaga work miracles in the Breton defence. The pocket center half is untenable and often finds the way between the big Cessonnais templates while the Chilean plants 3 goals in a row to put his team in front for the first time in the game (11-13, 24′; 14-13 , 26′). In the last minute, the Slovenian goalkeeper stops the Chilean to keep his team at one unit (16-15, 30′).
The show of the left backs of the Fénix
The good end of the Toulouse period will survive the break, and the left-handers will have a festival when they return from the locker room. To them two, Goncalo Martins Vieira and Erwin Feutchmann sign a 7/7 in less than 10 minutes while their opponents lose many balls. That’s all it takes for the partners of a Frederic Pettersson very skilful to fly to the score (25-19, 43′). The Indomitables work on both sides of the field but the Belgian goalkeeper watches, while the local attacks always turn out well. In the money time, Téo Jarry and Ayoub Abdi even offered superb roucoulettes and kung-fu to celebrate with their audience (31-26, 55′). The Occitans finally won by 7 lengths (34-27), and regain their confidence before moving to a serious competitor: St Raphaël.
Reactions to come…
In Toulouse, Antoine Piollat