Fivers in the play-offs

On the “fox hunt”: “We have a score to settle”

The die is cast - or rather: the quarter-final pairings in the Handball League have been official since Tuesday. And they promise pure excitement. Also in the duel between the Fivers and the BT Füchse.

The Fivers meet Bruck/Trofaiach for the first time at the start of the play-offs. Fivers coach Peter Eckl was not surprised that the Füchse picked his team after three wins in the last three direct duels (including the Cup semi-final last season): "From their point of view, I understand the choice very well, because they have beaten us three times." Captain Markus Kolar said: "We had no chance in the last game. We have a score to settle." This will be the 39-year-old's 21st quarter-final, "I've made it through 20 times. It will be an exciting challenge."

Eckl, whose team finished sixth in the HLA basic round, emphasized ahead of the best-of-3 series against the third-placed team away from home on 28 April: "We will try to break the losing streak against the Foxes with a lot of heart and passion. In our current form, we are capable of doing that." That was recently demonstrated by the strong 39:31 home win against Schwaz, who incidentally beat Linz - the eighth-placed team that finished seventh in last year's final but failed to make it past Westwien.

HLA, quarter-final series, best-of-3, also: Hard - Ferlach (from April 26), Schwaz - Linz (from April 27), Krems - Bregenz (from April 28).