Liverpool scored a narrow 18-19 away win over Newcastle Vikings’ women in Sunday’s return England Handball Regional League North fixture at Temple Park Leisure Centre in South Shields, in what was an exact reversal of the scoreline from Newcastle’s away win on Merseyside last month.
Centre Maren Liane quickly levelled up Liverpool’s opener, before half Judyta Turulska put the Vikings ahead. Newcastle cruelly lost captain Sandra Christke-Lamb to injury in the process of breaking through to score their third, but they fought on with further strikes from left-winger Marie Thompson, Turulska and a Liane brace to open up a three-goal advantage.
Liverpool nevertheless pulled back, despite further goals from half Rosa Larcy, Thompson, Turulska and two from player-coach Marlen Goulty, plus a couple of penalty saves from goalkeeper Andrea King. And led by six goals from half Babett Nagy, it was the Merseysiders who took a 12-13 advantage into the break to leave the home side somewhat frustrated.
The second half was dominated by solid defence lines and good saves by the goalkeepers of both sides, as the two teams only found the back of the net six more times each. Thompson and Turulska both struck twice more for the Vikings, with Larcy and Liane adding one apiece, while King’s goalkeeping earnt her Newcastle’s Kafeneon player of the match vote for the second consecutive game.
However, the half was much more fractured than the first, being littered with more penalties, time-outs and a series of two-minute suspensions towards the end which saw both teams reduced to four outfield players on court during the closing stages as Turulska picked up her third suspension in quick succession to see red before Thompson was straight red-carded as her frustrations boiled over. Liane nevertheless very nearly snatched what would have been a deserved draw as she broke through in the dying seconds, but her shot went agonisingly wide of the post to leave Liverpool with the one-goal 18-19 win at the final whistle.
In an action-packed day of handball, Newcastle Vikings’ youngsters then took to the court to play some fun small-sided tournament games, which were thoroughly enjoyed by all the children and their watching families and friends. In the junior matches, the Temple Park team beat the Benfield team 6-4 and 8-4, before also winning the final 4-2. While in the mini-Vikings games the blues and greens drew the first match 3-3, before the greens won the next 3-2, only for the blues to win the final game 2-0.
The afternoon was rounded off with a friendly match between Newcastle Vikings’ men and a York City Hunters team featuring a few guest University of York players. After taking an 11-8 advantage into the half-time break, the Vikings opened up in the second half to follow up last week’s convincing 9-37 friendly away win over the University of York with a 24-14 victory over their city counterparts. Winger Matthew Lamb and centre Julien Eng top-scored with seven goals apiece, backed up with five from Nathan Eline, three from Cedric Le Lay and one each for Bart Piorkowski and Adam Mobberley.
Newcastle Vikings Handball Club would like to thank everyone who came along for a today’s handball games, and an even bigger thank you for all the gifts kindly donated towards our festive raffle and received for our charity collection for the Newcastle West End Foodbank.
Newcastle Vikings women: Andrea King (GK), Marie Thompson (4 goals), Marlen Goulty (2), Judyta Turulska (5), Katerina Gibson, Rosa Larcy (2), Maren Liane (4), Alina Inta, Sandra Christke-Lamb (1), Maria Jose Gonzalez.