In their first competitive game, the newly formed Sheffield Handball team held Leeds Metropolitan University to a 15-15 draw in a pulsating game played at Turf Moor, Burnley on Sunday.
In a closely fought contest, neither team was able to run away with the game that culminated in a dramatic final few minutes as the Leeds team camped in the Sheffield half desperately trying to find themselves a winning goal.
The Sheffield team, captained by club founder and Sheffield University student Inaki Azpiazu-Pelaez, started brightly and scored first with less than a minute on the clock. They soon made it two-nil but Leeds hit back with two goals of their own to tie the game with only five minutes on the clock.
For those unfamiliar with handball, the game, originally invented in Germany, is played on a court 40 metres long and 20 metres wide with a goal at either end, set in a D-shaped goal-area that spans out six meters from the goalmouth that only the goalkeeper can enter. Each game is played in two 30 minutes halves with a ten-minute break in between.
Players can hold the ball for no more than three seconds before passing, dribbling or shooting and they cannot take more than three steps with the ball. Handball is played without any protective gear, which can make it dangerous at times because unlike other sports, contact is legal.
Unsurprisingly it was not long before an injury was picked up. Unfortunately for Sheffield, forward man Rowdie Loughlin managed to roll his ankle forcing him off the pitch. But with Sheffield unable to call upon any replacements, Loughlin, swollen ankle and all, rejoined the match and managed to contribute four goals to the cause.
Amazingly, this was the first time that the Sheffield team had all played together, but thanks to a combination of reliable goalkeeping from captain Inaki and a solid, organised defence, the Leeds team was reduced to taking long shots that rarely troubled the Sheffield goal.
Taking advantage of Leeds’ failure to score, Sheffield turned on the heat and through the very effective tactic of the long-ball counter attack, opened up an 11-4 lead that was reduced to 11-6 as the hooter sounded for half time.
The half time break was exactly what the doctor ordered for Leeds, and they emerged for the second half much more composed and set about reducing the Sheffield lead. Despite the best efforts of Sheffield central defenders Sayed Shubbar and John Reynolds, they did and reduced the score to 12-11 prompting the Sheffield bench to call a time-out.
Further goals from Sayed Shubbar, Rowdie Loughlin and Fausto Prastaro took the score to 15-13 and as the final whistle approached Leeds set about capitalising on the tiredness of the Sheffield team and held the ball deep in the Sheffield end. Tiredness told, and so with four minutes left, Leeds scored and tied the game.
Somehow Sheffield held on to secure a draw, and with it their first competitive point of the season. In a game that simply had everything, a draw was probably a fair result, but both teams may feel they should have come away with the win.
For the Sheffield team though, it did not matter. They had performed superbly in their first competitive fixture together - not bad for a team that train in inadequate facilities and without a goal to shoot at.
Speaking after the match, captain Inaki Azpiazu-Pelaez was proud of his teams’ performance: “that was a really really good game,” he said.
“We did make a few tired mistakes towards the end, but no team’s played like that in the first game!”
Shefbase.com will exclusively bring you the match reports from the Sheffield Handball Team’s games this season. For more information about the team, or details about how you can get involved yourself, log onto the website at www.sheffieldhandball.com.
Team that faced Leeds: Inaki Azpiazu-Pelaez (GK and captain), Fausto Prastaro (2 goals), Josh Hodson (1 goal), Sayed Shubbar (7 goals), Rowdie Loughlin (4 goals), John Reynolds and Pavel Beliaev (1 goal).
By Andrew Burgess
