Paris brilliant in postponed clash

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One week after the victory over Créteil (27-40), Paris Saint-Germain Handball were back in Lidl StarLigue action on Sunday afternoon. While they were initially scheduled to play their Round 11 clash with Istres, which was postponed postponed, the capital club instead played their postponed Round 9 clash at home to Chartres - a side who had caused our players plenty of problems in the pre-season this summer (25-31).

This time, Les Rouge et Bleu showed their mettle from the outset. Effective at both ends of the court, they deservedly made the first break (4': 4-0). A great start that they owed in large part to Nedim Remili. In fine fettle, our right-back hit a quick-fire triple - and scored his 600th Lidl Starligue goal in the process!

As the minutes ticked by, the gap widened a little more. For his first match with Paris Saint-Germain Handball, Luc Steins - decisive in several early-game moves - didn't take much time to find his own way to goal (7': 6-1). His cutting edge, combined with Vincent Gérard's various saves (16': 11-4) - and also with fast, perfectly executed - allowed Raul Gonzalez's men to take a more than promising advantage (20': 13-4).

Paris' 5-1 defence, with Benoît Kounkoud as an outfielder, considerably hindered Chartres' forwards. Their shooting game paid the price and Vincent was delighted to swat aside the rare attempts that come towards his goal. In this context, Elohim Prandi gave his team a ten-point lead a few minutes before the break (25': 16-6). Well led by Kamil Syprzak and Dainis Kristopans, they increased their lead a little more as they returned to the changing rooms.

On the restart, while Yann Genty followed in Vincent's footsteps by winning his first duel with ex-Parisian Sergiy Onufriyenko (32': 21-9), things were a little more complicated going forward. Indeed, our offensive players committed technical blunders that lead them to several turnovers and missed shots. Fortunately, thanks to their comfortable lead, Les Rouge et Bleu keep the game under control, despite this lapse (40': 23-13).

To put an end to the dry spell, Paris looked to captain Luka Karabatic (41': 24-14) and Dainis (42': 25-15). Defensively, the capital club opted for the same formation, but added more aggressiveness in order to trouble the opponent's attack, which had found its way back on track. The strategy worked, and Paris resumes the forward march (45': 26-15). In spite of Chartres' fight-back, the outcome of the match was far from doubtful at the beginning of the final ten minutes (52': 31-20).

As expected, the Parisians cruised to victory. They maintained the gap thanks to Luc, who proved as skilful in front of the opposition goal as he was selfless in defence, notably tracking back well to ruin an opposition attack (55': 34'-22). A few moments later, after a penalty save from Yann (58': 35-22) - and a kung-fu from our Dutch centre-half, set up by Benoît Kounkoud (59': 36-22) - Les Rouge et Bleu wrapped top the win to bag another two points and consolidate top spot! They thus continue their faultless run of ten wins from as many matches with a fortieth consecutive home win in the league!

(Credits: TeamPics/PSG)