Flensburg-Handewitt moved further clear at the top of the Bundesliga on Wednesday evening, beating Lemgo 39 to 30 on their own floor. The result leaves the visitors with three wins from three and six points, while the hosts drop to six places with four points after their first draw of the campaign.
By then, Flensburg had already made their statement. They came into the fixture unbeaten and without a single draw, and they added another clean sheet to that record. Lemgo, meanwhile, had shown they could score freely — 39 against Eisenach in August, 36 against BBM Bittingham this week — but they also know what a loss feels like. They had lost 35 to Kiel in August and 34 to Flensburg on their last meeting in August.
The table tells the story. Flensburg sit second with six points after three games, still behind whoever leads the division, but they have not dropped a point. Lemgo are sixth, two wins and one draw, but they have yet to taste defeat in the league so far. This was their first time doing so.
And here's the thing: the visitors had already played at Magdeburg, where they edged a 33 to 32 win, and at Eisenach, where they scraped 33 to 31. They are not blowing teams away, but they are finding a way back into it when needed. Against Lemgo, they simply outscored their opponents by nine goals and saw the game out without looking over their shoulders.
The hosts will have to take this on the chin. They had beaten Bergischer 31 to 27 earlier this month and looked comfortable against BBM Bittingham. But at home, against a side that has won every game they have played, they came up short. To be fair, Flensburg are weighing up a move away from perfection, but they have not given any reason to doubt it yet.