Pro-League: Honamas Win ‘Penalty Corner Festival’ Against England

FIH Pro League Men: Germany vs. England 3:2 (1:1)

The Danas had shown the way, the Honamas followed suit. After coach André Henning’s team lost their first game against England, the Honamas won 3-2 on Thursday. The goals for the Honamas all came from a penalty corner from Malte Hellwig, Tom Grambusch and Gonzalo Peillat. David Condon (open play) and Sam Ward also scoring from a penalty corner for England.

Ice-cold Englishmen halt the Honamas’ efforts

Everything should be better than in the first game against England, but it took just 30 seconds before the German goal threatened for the first time, but the shot by Will Calnan after a German loss of the ball was still easily parried by keeper Niklas Garst with his foot. But just a few minutes (3rd) later the ball was in the German goal. The German team could not prevent Calnan from running solo, Garst was able to parry the first shot, but David Condon manoeuvred the rebound into the goal to make it 0:1. As a result, the Honamas tried hard to find an answer, but dangerous circle actions hardly succeeded. After eleven minutes, Gonzalo Peillat shot a penalty corner too centrally at the English goal, allowing keeper James Mazarelo to save. 

A penalty corner equalizes

In a second quarter lacking in highlights, it was a penalty corner after 21 minutes that brought the Honamas back into play. Malte Hellwig made it 1-1 with a Stecher variant. As a result, the team of coach André Henning acted committed and tried, again and again, to get dangerously into the English circle. But the English defended the Honama’s attempts. 

The “Punishment Corner Festival” begins

The game remained contested in the third quarter and played mainly between the circles. A penalty corner was needed again to score the goal (36′). Born in Mönchengladbach, Tom Gambusch scored in his hometown to make it 2-1. Five minutes before the end of the period, Christopher Ruhr was shown a yellow card after a stick hit and missed his team for ten minutes. And it got even worse. Sam Ward converted the subsequent penalty corner to 2:2. But the Honamas have a penalty corner specialist in their ranks – and he only showed his skills for one minute. Gonzalo Peillat put the Honamas back in front with a powerful shot under the goal roof in the 41st minute.

Honamas win intense match against England

The final quarter began with a penalty corner for the Honamas and two for the English. But all attempts landed next to the respective goal. The game remained hard-fought, and no team was able to create any great chances. Johannes Große saw the green card five minutes before the end after being too close to his opponent. However, this did not change the result. With 20 points after twelve games, the Honamas are in second place in the FIH Pro League.

Comments on the game:

Tom Grambusch:

“We had a pretty bad neck after yesterday because we lost and didn’t score a goal. We didn’t make it easy for ourselves today because we got a goal early on. But we didn’t let ourselves down and then managed to put our stamp on the game. Then luckily we got back into the game through the corners.”

Eric Kleinlein: 

“That was very important today. We had a lot of penalty corners yesterday, but we didn’t score a goal from them. We analyzed that and made a clear plan. That worked out perfectly.”

Game details: