N1 elite – J13 | Annecy falls before the holidays
Before the truce, several teams made their mark. Hazebrouck notably stood up brilliantly against his home crowd by dominating Annecy (31-27), which lost ground to its direct rival Vénissieux, yet hanging on against Elite Val d’Oise (30-30). At the bottom of the table, it is Martigues who upset the balance by climbing to 9th place after their great success at Pau Nousty (28-31).
It’s been a month sinceHazebrouck, climbed to 5th place, suffered only defeats. But before a month’s break, the Northerners were able to raise their heads in the most beautiful way against one of the toughest opponents in the championship: Annecy. Exceptionally at the Stade de Flandres, the home of US Dunkirk, the locals will manage to create the gap and take the dreams of the meeting. Facing a Ludovic Assati Solid at the pivot and Julien Cadel still imperturbable in front of goal, Annecy will be 4 units behind and will return to the locker room with (12-8, 21′; 17-13, 30′). The gap will be maintained on returns to the field but, as money-time approaches, the Haut-Savoyards will give everything to get back into the game (23-18, 45′).
With a Simon Mayayo still in good shape (7/11), a 100% pivotal Jules Portet (6/6) and valuable saves from Tom Omnes, Guillaume Dupin’s men are back in the game in an instant (24-24, 50 ′). However, Annecy’s double exclusion opens up a avenue for Hazebrouck’s relaunched attack – illustrated by wingers Théo Hurez and above all Julien Cadet (11 goals) – and the locals regained their lead to win logically (31-27). The HBH71 will therefore spend the holidays warm in the Top5, while their opponent accuses his 3rd defeat of the season.
Did Vénissieux break the curse?
On the said, the courses of Annecy and Venissieux seem linked this season. If we omit the meetings of the two teams against the Angevin leader, they have, each day, suffered the same fate. Victory for one, victory for the other, defeats for one, defeats for the other, draw for one, draw for the other. But this Saturday, the Rhôdaniens may have broken the spell binding them to their neighbor Rhônalpin. Opposed toElite Val d’Oise, however, they did not go far from defeat. For good reason, the players from Ile-de-France once again bring danger to all positions and lead to the break. The locals regain control in the second act, and will manage to keep a slight distance in the last quarter of an hour, thanks to their young full-backs Yanis Dury to the left and Mateo Grosjean on the right (7 goals each). But despite a 3-goal lead 5 minutes from time (28-25, 55′), precious saves from Chris N’Kuingoua and 3 goals in as many minutes from the eternal Civil Armand reshuffle the cards. And the last minute of attack from the premises will not prevent the two teams from letting go back to back (30-30). The point taken is thus a very good result for the Elite Val d’Oise who have lost only one of their last 5 meetings. On the VHB side, the second place is finally fully provided to him. The big month of truce will be precious and used to prepare for the return to competition on January 21, for a meeting that will weigh heavily, with the reception of Annecy.
Two other teams ended in a draw: Mulhouse-Rixheim and Cournon d’Auvergne. In a match added from start to finish, the Alsatians thought they could escape before money time (20-17, 50′), but they will be caught up by the experience of Laurent Lagier Pitre (7 goals) and Adrien Canoine (23-23, 58′). And seconds from the siren, it’s Robin Dupont Marion which allows the Auvergnats to keep a point of their movement in the Grand Est (24-24). On the local side, Theo Lebon once again proved to be extremely valuable in shooting and finished as his team’s top scorer with 6 goals.
Martigues continues and moves away from the bottom of the table!
Behind Mulhouse in the standings, we find Martigues who goes on after his prestigious success against Angers. Traveling to Pau NoustyFranck Bulleux’s men held the game and their slight lead for 60 minutes, carried by Matthew Limousin and Lucas Ruiz effective in goal (8 and 6 goals). Undergoing the return of the Pau stalwarts Lamude and Alexandre Thiel (5 and 6 goals), the Martégaux remain solid and garner a valuable success for the maintenance (28-31). On a par with the players from Bouches-du-Rhône, we find the young people of PSG, who suffered the sentence of Angevins reassembled. After their bitter defeat, the players of Angers SCO Handball did not go overboard and completely suffocated their opponent after the first quarter of an hour (19-13, 30′; 30-20, 42′; 39-25). Williams Manebard was once again particularly entertained (9/10), while opposite, Peleka and Mendy finished top scorers with 6 units.
Saintes more than ever in the race for the Proligue
Finally, at the bottom of the table, Lancaster suffered yet another defeat against Saints, and remains red lantern. The Neo-Aquitaine, carried by their trio Axel Rosier, Tanguy Le Fur and Lucas Rancé (7, 7 and 5 goals) dominated much of the match (13-18, 32′). With good Thomas Houry and Lucas Musy (6 and 7 goals), the Bretons managed to come back in the game (22-23, 45′), but that will not be enough. And despite the great score of Maxime Pages in the cages (15 saves, three more than Maximiliano Soliani), Lanester logically bows (26-32). The Morbihannais will therefore spend the holidays in the ranking queue before resuming competition with the arrival of their new coach, Lukas Buchta. On the Saintes side, 4th place was held, and Yannick Verdier’s men came back up to Annecy. Only one point behind Vénissieux, the second team in the VAP ranking, the Saintais know that accession to the Proligue is far from over.
To finish, Gonfreville and Dreux-Vernouillet fought an unprolific duel in goals. And that’s the least we can say. And if the Normans consume the first gap at the break (10-7, 30′), they will spend 20 minutes without scoring the slightest but in the second act (14-10, 39′; 14-17, 57′). Under these conditions, difficult to imagine winning (17-19). On the Eurelian side, Philippe Vucelic and Bryan Doisel will have scored the majority of their team’s goals (12 between them) and are taking advantage of this success to overtake their opponent of the day in the standings.
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Antoine Piollat