The Chungnam Provincial Office ended a four-game losing streak with its first H-League victory over Hanam City Hall.
The Chungnam Provincial Office defeated Hanam City Hall 27-22 in Game 5 of the men’s first round of the Shinhan SOL Pay 23-24 Handball H League on Wednesday at SK Hawks Arena in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do.
The Chungnam provincial government remains unchanged in the standings, but has gained two valuable points from one win and four losses. With the win, both men’s teams tasted victory. Hanam City Hall remained in fifth place with one win, one draw, three losses and three points.
Chungnam’s defense, which had threatened leaders Doosan and Incheon City Corporation with its forward defense, finally came through in the second half. The offense was also dominant, scoring 27 goals, the most in the five games so far.
Whether they played the forward defense card from the start or not, the plan worked, and they jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but a counterattack by Hanam City Hall cut the deficit to 6-5. The reorganized team scored five goals in a row to go up 11-5 and ended the first half with an 11-6 lead. As Hanam City Hall’s offense was stifled, it was all Chungnam Provincial Office.
The second half was a tightly contested affair. After leading in the first half of the previous two matches, Chungnam Provincial Government, which had lost its physical strength in the second half, stuck to its guns in the second half and blocked the opponent’s attacks. The team was desperate for its first win.
With seven minutes left in the second half, a goalkeeper’s save and a Chungnam-do error combined to bring the score to three points, 19-22, and they tried to pull off the upset, but mistakes cost them.
Taking advantage of Hanam City Hall’s mistake, Chungnam Provincial Office players pushed forward and scored three goals in a row to make a comeback and eventually win 27-22.
Chungnam led the offense with 10 goals from Choi Hyun-geun and seven from Oh Hwang-je, while goalkeeper Choi Yong-beom made 16 saves.
Hanam City Hall also performed well, with Lee Dong-myung stopping five shots and Cha Seung-jae stopping seven, but the offense couldn’t get going.
Chungnam-do goalkeeper Lee Yong-beom, who was named MVP after making 16 saves, said, “I really wanted to get my first win quickly, but I only got it today. I think our team will be on the upswing because we are a team that wins in a row once we win. In the past, we won the first half but lost the second half due to our physical strength, but today we played well in the second half without getting tired thanks to the supportive crowd. We will do our best to keep up the good work.”