Sunday 22nd Sept saw the 0809 Northern champion face the latest addition to the northern league, Salford HC. The game ended up being both spectacular and fast paced as both teams kept on scoring against defenses which were not as ready as each coach would have liked. By half time, Manchester were to take a slight lead though: 12-9. The second half saw Manchester re-arrange their defense slightly and using the speed of their forwards for clinical counter attacks and quickly opened a 10 goal lead. Salford, through kept scoring but too many direct mistakes, bad passing or shooting due to the difference in fitness and pressure from the Manchester defense prevented them from catching up with the Mancunians's fast paced attacking which led them to a 36-25 victory, rotating the squad nicely in the process. To note Minas Georgiou's 11 goals and rookie Ric Hennessy scoring 3 for his Division 1 debut and a good performance in goals from Liverpool recruit Majed Mnahi.
MATCH DAY 2:Manchester - Liverpool Speke Garston 17 - 20
Suprise defeat to Speke Garston...
The second game of the season saw MHC play Liverpool Speke Garston.
Unfortunately for Manchester, only 8 players were available for this match due to injury, family or work commitments caused essentially by the Ukraine Challenge cup trip.
Furthermore, the eight strong MHC unit included Aurelien Bouche who passed a late fitness test but with medical permission for only a few minutes per half due to his back injury.
This game was also an opportunity for Liverpool signing Majid Mnahi to show his worth in goals following his summer transfer from Merseyside, as number 1 keeper and fan's favorite Zsolt Deak was unavailable.
Neutral observers would agree Mnahi did deliver in goals, only letting 20 in.
As per Manchester, their play started quite well and took a lead of 4 goals thanks to some good attacks combined with strong defense. However, a late reaction from Speke got the Merseysiders back into the game to close at half time 11-9.
The second half saw Speke equalize fairly soon and with the help of their goalkeepers, took a deserved lead whilst Manchester's attacks were often completely nullified.
Manchester, unbeaten in the north for over a year were not prepared to give up though and fought hard to stay in the game, lagging behind by only a goal or two up until the last minutes of the match.
An all out defense worked well but again, chances not converted at the other end got Liverpool Speke to finish the game with a superb fast break to take home a 3 goal lead. Congratulations to Liverpool Speke Garston on this win.
An emergency board meeting was held shortly after the game and angry club chairman Karim Hammache confirmed he would not hesitate to sack the coach should Manchester lose another game in the Northern League this year, before storming off in his silver...Toyota Yaris.
Match Report KH from MHC Media Group
MATCH Day 3:Manchester - Wirral 35 - 20
Day 3 saw Manchester travel to Greenbank to play Wirral, for their first Division 1 game following their eurotrip to Ukraine. This match was to be an opportunity to set the record straight for the Mancunians after their surprise defeat to Speke Garston.
And with a bigger group of 10 players made of "the rookies" and the more experienced players (Taleb, Lasek, Deak), Manchester were ready.
Although the Men in Black started with a deficit of 2 goals, they equalized quickly, to take a deserved lead through some nice play and quick fast breaks.
With the half positions held efficiently by Bouche (10 goals) and Lasek (5), Manchester started building a good lead to finish the first half at 19-11, making the most of the inexperience of the Wirral goalkeeper.
Another good performance from keeper Mnahi playing home away from home at Greenbank whilst number 1 and fan's favorite Zsolt Deak's display for his return in goals was deemed "satisfactory", both helping Manchester greatly in controlling the pace of the match.
Although the goalkeepers worked well on the day, Witnesses did hear the MHC coach ask Zsolt Deak if he would prefer "an Espresso, a Mocha or a Cappuccino"...following an easy Wirral shot Deak, also known as "Mister" had just let in.
Unfortunately, Neither coach nor player were available for comments after the game...
The second half saw Manchester carry on with the same tempo and build up an even bigger lead, with good contributions from Karas, Taleb, and young player of the year Jeremy Holden.
A final fast break was concluded in a powerful and clinical manner by the ever strong Celian Girost to set the score at 35-20.
To note a communication incident in the 2nd half which led to a penalty being taken by Holden whilst Julien Tamssom was also "being prepared" by team mate Tomasz Lasek. This sensible initative from Lasek was deemed the best possible therapy to help Tamssom get over his sleepless nights following his Challenge Cup 7m attempt against Verias, from Greece, which left him badly disturbed, on Prozac prescription and on 24hr medical surveillance.
Match Report KH from MHC Media Group
MATCH Day 4:Manchester - Nottingham 32 - 18
For the fourth game of the season, Manchester Handball Club were hosting Nottingham University, winner against Liverpool the week before, and unbeaten so far this season. The importance of this match for the playoff qualification meant both teams took this game really seriously.
The match started on a really high tempo, with Nottingham taking an early lead at 4-2 after 6 minutes. However, Manchester tightened up its defence and took the lead back after 10 minutes.
This game was an opportunity for Manchester to show its new weapon, the French half player named Jeremy Piton, who stepped on court after 15th minute. The recently signed player got onto the match quickly and scored several goals after touching the post twice in the first half.
At half time, Manchester was leading by 7 goals, (14-7). This score shows the density of the teams in defence not to mention another good performance from Nottingham keeper as well as MHC’s Majed Mnahi who kept Nottingham’s shooters well in check over the initial 30 minutes.
The second half allowed for Manchester to work further on its defence, and try a new disposition of players. This strategy offered the Mancunians an opportunity to dig up the gap on the scoreboard between the two formations through several steals from Nottingham’s attack.
The MHC squad finished the game as seriously as they started it, and even enjoyed some phases of “total handball”, scoring two Kempas (high ball caught over the area and thrown in goals before landing), both highly technical moves involving Minas Georgiou, back after almost one month of absence, who was once provider and once on the receiving end, scoring from one of the last goals of the season thanks to a clinical lob pass above two defenders from Moussa Taleb.
The final score (32-18) is encouraging and give lot of hopes for the rest of the season.
To note: Majed Mnahi, in goals who did a really good match while substitute, Zsolt Deak, did well even though he was still recovering on the bench from its short and rather agitated night. Both still managing to save several penalties.
The Mancunian team on the day...
Match report CG Manchester Media Group
MATCH Day 5:Manchester Uni - Manchester 19 - 32
Division 1 League Day 5 saw Manchester Handball Club engage in one of the most prestigious game of the Northern League, playing at the Liverpool Greenbank Academy against their local and historical rivals from Manchester University.
Indeed, whilst a healthy rivalry has developed over the years between the two Mancunian sides who share amongst many things their year of creation (2003), the games between the two teams are always played with that extra bit of tension and passion and rarely disappoint neutral observers...
Although Man Uni won the first few encounters and clearly was the better team in the early years, the gap between the two clubs has narrowed down over time and many draws were recorded in the more recent history.
And with Manchester HC winning the Division 1 north league of season 08/09 and beating Man Uni by 3 goals over both encounters in the process, a new trend seemed to emerge...
So this season 09/10’s first encounter was inevitably going to be a good test to see each club’s resolve...
And as per usual, the game started with tensions, pressure, technical and physical approximations, with injuries recorded by both teams and many easy shots being missed...
However, even though Manchester missed more of the many chances at the start of the match, Manchester University did not take advantage of this situation and the game remain a low scoring one up until Manchester got their defence in place and manage to hit the students with some good fast breaks to close 13-8 at half time.
Tomasz Lasek and Jeremy Piton got scoring for the Mancunians (3 and 4 in the first half) and were followed in the second half by an impressive 6 from Aurelien Bouche who entered play on minute 31 and helped Manchester make a bigger gap as time went by. Aurelien Bouche's impressive performance was the direct consequence of a training camp he attended in France the week prior to the match where he had to show his physical worth to gain admission in the the foreign legion. [Althought all tests were positive, he eventually got declined upon discovery that he was a French national...to the delight of the Mancunian Team].
The tempo of the 2nd half picked up significantly and saw Manchester University eventually running out of options in attack despite an aggressive 9m defence. The Mancunianswere able to find solutions throughout the latter part of the game to finish 32-19 and record the biggest win between the two teams, and proving once more that they were serious contenders for the Northern League title and possibly more.
MATCH Day 6: Liverpool 32 - Manchester 35
Day 7 of the England HandballDivision 1 North championship took place on Sun 22nd Nov 09 at Bellevue and saw Manchester play Liverpool for top spot, both teams determined to fight from the very first minute until the last.
And this top of the table clash delivered undoubtedly the best game of the season so far with both team peaking at the top of their fitness and technical abilities at the right time.
Everyattack defense phase was a merciless battle, and every goal scored by the mancunians saw the merseysiders respond in a similar fashion.
The physicality of the contacts were such that both teams seemed at breaking point for most of the match...the two points at stake were simply too important to be missed ahead of the National Playoff stage.
The match started on a really high tempo, Manchester starting with a nice move to score within the first minute. Liverpool answered straight back, via Gonzalo who scored 7 goals in this game. Thomas Lasek particularly active with an impressive 13 goals on the day helped the Mancunian squad take the lead after10 minutes.
The outcome of the clash was simply a fantastic show for the spectators with Manchester building an early gap of 3 goals within 15 minutes of play despite an aggressive 5-1 defence by Liverpool which kept slowing down the progression of Manchester on the scoreboard.
Nevertheless Karim Hammache men’s kept scoring even though they had difficulties closing the gaps and allowed many shots inside their 9 meters and Manchester Handball Club was ahead at half time.
The second period started as quickly as the first with Liverpool trying their best to close the gap. They did come back to two goals on a couple of occasions but Manchester kept their cool and remained ahead throughout the match.
This match had a particular flavour for Majed Mnahi who played against his ex-team mates and his post reaction comments were “Manchester 35- Liverpool 32, I love this score”
The Manchester players were also really pleased to see their professional goalkeeper Jorge Aguilla, who flew from spain to play this game. Jorge commenting on the result: “I knew I needed to be here from day one but I am happy to see the team has now other professionals who can look after our results whilst I am busy in Spain. Be careful though, I will keep an eye on you all”
Contacted via satellite link, newlywed Zsolt Deak coming back from his honeymoon was “proud of his team mates after this essential win, and happy that his statistical assessment of the victory on his wedding day (one hundred perrrcent) was confirmed.
MATCH Day 7: Manchester 34 - Salford 28
Having lost one game before the start of the return matches, Manchester were determined to stamp their autority on the Northern League and ensure their qualification for the playoffs as quickly as possible.
However, a key point in this process was to work on new playing systems so the team could adjust quickly when faced with strong opposition, the ultimate objective being to improve greatly during the National Playoff Stage, and possibly become a serious contender for the title.
The Mancunians decided to use the 5-1 system for the whole of the first half, and this even though it had not been practiced intensely in training.
This made the initial part of the match very challenging for the black army who ended up being one goal behind Salford at 15-16.
The most striking impression though, is the calm which caracterized the way Manchester decided to address the 2nd half, having analysed the weaknesses and strength of Salford and knowing how to deal with them.
And when the game resumed, even though Salford got a bigger lead (+3) this did not impact the confidence of the Mancunians in their own ability. They kept their composure and kept on scoring goal after goal, and started to steal balls from the Lancashire side's set attacks, to convert them at the other end through quick fast breaks.
With 10 minutes to go, Manchester were in control again and the physical intensity of the match was too much for the young players from Salford who with a smaller bench could not keep up with the high tempo of the game. This combined with a fantastic sequence from Zsolt Deak who litterally stopped everything sent his way over 5 minutes was enough to take Manchester to an important win with a 6 goals lead over a team which will most probably make it to the playoffs.
MATCH Day 8 : Wirral 16 - Manchester 30
On the last match of 2009 it was important to close the year with a good result. The team had to travel witch made the start a little harder but they didn't disappoint. Starting the match strongly they quickly established the lead and managed to keep in front for the whole game. Some good performances all around the team we could tell that everyone was on top form so coach Hammaches hard training programme has paid off in the first half of the season they have managed to close the year on the top of the table and with only one lost match. We are looking forward to next year which could be the greatest year for MHC so far.
Well done everyone !
MATCH Day 9 : Manchester 21 - Liverpool Speake Garston 16
The first match of 2010 and although everyone was looking forward to this match to take revenge of the only team that managed to beat MHC last year but no one was looking forward to it as much as Petr Karas as he explained he almost broke down in tears by the christmas tree remembering the last match between these two sides and he really wanted to prove what he could do against them.
Returning from the break the team didn't have the same fitness as last year except Semir Liatouji who has spent his christmas in a French training camp. So it was clear they were going to have work hard to win this morning fixture.
The team has arrived with three goal keepers to this match as Hammache managed to buy a Slovakian international Vladimir in the winter transfer window.
The Spanish owners of the team were closely watching this fixture as they couldn't have allowed the team to make the same mistake as they did last year.
The team started slowly in the first half MHC didn't seem awake which looks to be a common problem in these early fixtures. The shots from MHC didn't find the goal and the difference wasn't strong enough allowing Speke to take the lead. The mistakes just kept coming and some good performance from Speke's goal keeper put them in a two goal lead for the half time (8-10).
A big half time talk and appointing the new goal keeper seems to have made the required change to turn the match around. The team didn't get disappointed for losing at half time. They have learnt from their mistakes and came back full strength. The defence was a lot better leaving not many chances for Speke to score. Also fantastic performance from the new goalkeeper Vladimir, he made it extremly difficult for Speke to score. Excellent fast breaks from Georgiou, a fantastic goal from the wing from Taleb, a penalty save from Majid and a good last five minutes from Deak has summarised the second half which has finished 21-16 from the home team. 4-4 goals from Lasek and Girost but the top scorer was Hammache hitting the net 6 times.
Job done, but with a poor first half perfomance they could have made it easier for themsleves. Although a good thing to take away from this match would be to never give up and to not get upset by the current score which can be turned around with a positive attitude, well done MHC.
MATCH Day 10 : Nottingham 17 - Manchester 29
Coming soon...
MATCH Day 11 : Manchester University 16 - Manchester HC 43
This 11th game of the league was a test for MHC, travelling to Greenbank with only 9 players.
Few key players were missing, including Minas Georgiou ,away to Netherlands, Celian Girost( France), Julien Tamasson( France), as wel as Aurelien Bouche who is still nurturing a back injury.
This game was therefore a good opportunity for MHC to show the potential of the team to the club's international jetsetters...
Manchester Handball club started the match very well and took a lead of 7 goals( Score 8-1) after only 12 minutes. With some excellent defense combined wih impressive fast breaks.
As per usual since December, MHC's 5-1 defense worked well during the entire first half and Manchester Uni had a lot of problems in finding gaps inside of it to the satisfaction of Coach Hammache who confirmed to the press Zsolt Deak did deliver in goals, only letting 4 in entire first half!!!!
By half time, MHC were to take a comfortable lead (22-4) and were getting their confidence back.
During the second half, MHC back with their traditional 6-0 defense, kept pushing and scoring goals facing a static Man Uni defense. And after 17 minutes play in second half, the score had reached 32-11 with Man Uni stilltrugglin to find any rythm in their attack.
To note, Jeremy Piton scoring 14 goals, Karim Hammache and Semir Liatouji scoring 8 goals each and a good performance as well from Peter Karas in attack scoring 4 goals and helping the Greenbank cleaning staff, in getting rid of spiders inside the sportshall!!!
Final score 43-16 to Manchester Handball Club, the first time ever for the Mancunians to exceed 40 goals in one game.
Everyone was very happy with the team performance and are looking forward to the last game before the play-off against Liverpool in 3 weeks time.
They said:
"Playing today was really good fun after such a long time and I can't wait for the next match to come!" Celian Girost
"Although I went to the gym in the morning of the match, I felt good throughout the game" Minas Georgiou
"I was impressed with the team's determination and commitment from the moment we started warm up" Julien Tamssom
"It was hard for me to just watch the game due to my injury. I certainly wanted to be on court, but doing the table has "some benefits" too..." Semir Liatouji
Match Report KH from MHC Media Group
Manchester on the bus...
They said:
John Jacobson (Liverpool Speke Garston): "We are very pleased, especially since we have been waiting for this win against Manchester for years"
Zsolt Deak: "I just cant believe this. We simply cannot rely on the rookies to deliver the goods..."
Deak comtemplating the meaning of life...
Jorge Aguila: "If you need professionnals at every game, just say it. If I have to fly from Spain, I will do it..."
Semir Liatouji: "It was very frustrating to watch my team lose, but doing the table, had some extra benefits, especially alone"
Peter Karas: "There is one date I am looking forward to in 2010...it is 17th Jan..."
Manchester attacks against Wirral
They said: Semir Liatouji: "I was wondering if the team was losing because I wasn't there. I m glad the guys proved me wrong"
Jorge Aguila: "The guys watched me play in Ukraine and got the medication they needed at my contact...I'm glad they understand what performing is all about now..."
Jose Armesto: "It is a nice result but it seems some of the guys haven't woken up yet from their European Dream yet. As per the coach's question to Deak, I think I would have gone for Machiatto or Ice coffee..."
The coach: "I have nothing to say about this match. But I heard "MISTER" wanted to take my players out on a pub crawl before the clash against Nottingham at the weekend...I don't know if it's true but I will have people patrolling the streets of Manchester on Saturday night..."
Aguila showing his worth once again...
They said:
Jeremy Piton: “Even though it was my first game with MHC, I must say I had some really good feelings on court”.
Julien Tamsson: “I eventually scored and it was NOT a penalty”.
Karim Hammache: “The whole team played well but I would like to insist on the performance of Minas Georgiou on the day, who really impressed me by showing not only his dedication but also how generous a player he is, setting up his partners when he could have taken the chances himself. Impressive!”
Majed Mnahi in action...
Another win and another...fiver in the bag for Semir Liatouji!
They said:
Zsolt Deak: "I did all I could even though my priority is my mariage at the moment and we bagged a good win today. I won't be there against Liverpool but I have trust in the guys. They may be scared because of my absence but I will be with them in spirit. I don't really mind if people say that when I'm in goals, it's no goals...that's why i m there for"
Jose Armesto: "I was hoping for a really good win as those derbies mean a lot to the club, but I guess we can be satisfied with this victory, especially since we rotated everyone quite nicely.
Minas Georgiou: "Today, i feel we played at only 50% of our abilities. I know we had a long day, many of us working before the match and the rest attending the referee meeting, but we have to raise our level. I expect us to be back to one hundRRRed peRRRcent against Liverpool. It is NICE though to win the derby by 13 goals."
Celian Girost: "For me, this game is like any other match, we arrive, we warm up, we play. If we play to our abilities, I have not a single worry on the day, and know we will go home with 2 points"
Aurelien Bouche: "This season has been difficult for me, with so many injuries sustained, late fitness tests, visit at the doctors, physios and back specialists... I knew today was a day where I could really show my worth and I''m glad I helped the team out, especially for the derby, although I feel those games are no longer what they used to be"
Peter Karas: "I am still having handling problems with the new MHC match ball. Let's just switch once to the Karas ball and we will see what handball is all about."
The winning team against Liverpool harboring the away kit with a guest star appearance from Jorge Aguila aka "the professional" (Top left) Aurelien Bouche Jeremy Piton Tomasz Lasek Petr Karas Minas Georgiou Celian Girost, Bart Babinski Julien Tamssom Semir Liatouji Jeremy Holden Karim Hammache Jorge Aguila
Mhani Majid : It was an easy match, i didn't even go into goals i showed my
skills on the field and I was good.
Karim Hammache : I am not happy, as I asked the team not to concede more
than 10 goals, I had to call Petr Karas into my office after the match as he
promised me 4 goals in each half not in the whole match.
Petr Karas : I had the best shot of my life, I shot from 10 meters fast into
the top right hand corner, I cant believe it.
Jeremy Piton: I just couldn't miss, I know I am good but that is just amazing
14 goals, thanks you.
Semir Liatouji : I am happy when we can play with tacky as this way I can
have my favourite shot roquette not chocolate. I was worried if I miss the
