French Cup: in Sélestat for Mathé's first, the MHB finally rolled out

Valentin Porte and his team did not tremble in Alsace. MAXPPP – Denis WERWER

Long challenged by Sélestat (D2), the MHB accelerated in the last quarter of an hour to offer itself an expected qualification for the 8th finals of the Coupe de France, this Tuesday in Alsace (27-35).
 

History will remember that it was in Sélestat that the MHB won its first official match after the Patrice Canayer era.
Érick Mathé's players, even weakened by a few absences (Yanis Lenne, Skube, Karlsson and Pellas), justified their status as big favorites against the Sélestat players (D2) who played their luck bravely.

The technical sheet

SELESTAT (D2) 27
MONTPELLIER 35
Half-time: 15-17.
Referees: Mrs. Carmaux and Diar.
SÉLESTAT: Goalkeepers: Serdarevic (1-30th, 5 saves) and Villain (31st-60th, 5 saves).
Mandic, Vescovo (2/2), Egermann (cap. 5/8), Vinatier (5/8 including 1/1 pen.), T. Pompon, Mendy (3/6), Plat (1/5), Jorgensen (0/1), Van Ee, Weber (1/2), Jaeger (2/3), Mengon (4/5), Eymann (2/5), George (2/4).
Two minutes at : Weber (17th, 26th), Mandic (20th), George (48th).
MONTPELLIER  : Goalkeepers : Bolzinger (1-30th, 6 saves) and Desbonnet (31st-60th, 7 saves, 1/1 shooting).
Simonet (3/4), Villeminot (6/6 including 5/5 pen.), Cikusa (3/5), Hesham (0/2), Fernandez (2/2), A. Lenne (3/3), Prat, Konan, Guigon (1/2), Monte (8/10), Porte (cap. 5/5), Terjek (0/1), Dubois (1/3), Nacinovic (2/3).
Two minutes at  : A. Lenne (9th).

The Violets even led the dance for most of the first period. Porte put Montpellier in the lead for the first time in the 12th minute (5-6). But not for very long (7-6 in the 14th, 9-8 in the 16th).
Nacinovic imitated his captain (9-10, 19th), but his team was not launched for all that (13-12, 24th). The Héraultais were going to coldly exploit the local inaccuracies to finally – a little – break away (13-16 in the 29th, 15-17 at half-time).

Monte was causing problems for the Alsatian defense at the start of the second half and we thought Valentin Porte's teammates were safe (18-22, 38th). This was without counting on the Alsatian resistance, embodied by Mengon (trained at MHB) and Mendy (22-24, 43rd).

A big defense to wrap things up

The Sélestat players were not going to believe in the feat for long because Lenne's double in less than sixty seconds quickly extinguished the hopes of his former club (22-27, 44th). Laurent Busselier's players would not score again for eight minutes during which the MHB escaped (23-32 in the 53rd, 27-35 in the end).
Montpellier will therefore be at the rendezvous of the 8th finals of a competition that it has won thirteen times but which has eluded it since 2016.