Firm, but without outburst (“no one got upset, it’s useless”, according to Sébastien Mizoule), the group therapy in the ESBF locker room, between the players and their coach, apparently not enough this Thursday: the day after the fiasco against Fleury-Loiret, the bottom of the French championship – until then always beaten this season – came to win against unrecognizable handball players from Besançon, just three days after their other very spicy slap (38 -30) with the Hungarians of Mosonmagyarovari, in the European Cup…
This Saturday evening, at the Palais des Sports in Besançon, the highly anticipated and recommended reaction did not really take place! Despite an almost impeccable Lucie Granier, top scorer in the game (two shot failures, 11 goals including 7/7 at half-time), the ESBF failed to make the Sola, the very solid 3rd in the Norwegian D1 : on the contrary, wide defeat (32-39) during this 2nd day of the Group Stage of the European League.
The objective of qualifying for the 1/4 finals looks more complicated than expected
The current 6th in the D1/Butagaz Energie League led well in the score. But only during the first three minutes (3-1, 3 ‘)… Then, the athletic qualities and speed, as well as the precision of the engagement and the finishes of Sola quite logically made the difference (16-22, half time). The Bisontines have come back well to three lengths, approaching the last ten minutes (28-31, 48 ‘). But the Norwegians have given a layer to regain their distance and impose themselves on this river score (32-39) outside!
Still a bit tight, the ESBF which has no yet nothing dropped in terms of intensity and state of mind. Insufficient, especially since we still had to do without two major players absent due to injuries : always Sakura Hauge, the usual duo of Roxanne Frank in the Besançon goals and, now also the only left-back, the Polish international Natalia Nosek who broke one of the pasterns of her right hand against Fleury-Loiret (six to eight weeks of unavailability).
To be underlined, despite everything, the promising return to official competition of Line Uno (3 goals), this Saturday evening. Able to evolve in the three positions of the rear base, the Danish center half (28 years old) had not played for a year (!) and her rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the knee…
And the Franco-European marathon continues…
With this second setback in as many days in the Group Stage of the European League, qualification for the 1/4 finals (reserved for the first two of each group) is still quite possible, even if the ESBF will not have no more room for error in the last four days.
Especially since his January-February marathon is far from over… Next week, the Bisontines continue their frenetic pace of one game every three days at the start of 2022: still at home, against the promoted Those-on-Belle (Wednesday 19 January, 8 p.m.) in the league, then to the Croats of Lokomotiva Zagreb (Saturday 22 January, 8 p.m.) in the European Cup!