Poland crush Faroese dreams

Poland, however, had other thoughts and the game proved a scrappy fight for most of the 60 minutes – before securing a 32:28 victory to finish third in group D.

The game was marked by Szymon Sicko and Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu's individual performances, with the duo showing why they have been the main protagonists for their teams. But too many mistakes in the closing quarter by the debutants gave Poland the chance to finally get ahead and take the win.

Poland vs Faroe Islands 32:28 (15:15)

• while the Faroe Islands were the first to take a two-goal lead 18 minutes into the match at 11:9, Poland responded and the match was level, 15:15, at the break
• Poland took their first two-goal lead with less than eight minutes to play and a 3:0 run in the last two minutes, including a Szymon Sicko penalty, proved decisive in taking the win
• Poland's defence could not cope with Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu's bag of tricks as the pacey centre back, and he was chosen as the Player of the Match, sponsored by Grundfos, by the fans, after another nine-goal outing
• Hákun West av Teigum scored 10 goals, including eight penalties, and was the Faroe Islands' top scorer; Sicko also netted 10 times, nine of these from the field
• Kamil Syprzak scored nine goals and kept Sicko company in offensive duties with an excellent match
• Jakub Skrzyniarz displayed a decent performance in goal as the Polish goalkeeper made saves 11 saves (31.4 per cent save efficiency)

The á Skipagøtu show at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin

The young and explosive playmaker, Elias Ellefsen á Skipagøtu, remained an unsolved puzzle for the Polish defence throughout the match as the 21-year-old kept responding to Marcin Lijewski's ideas.

Even when Poland's coach instructed Piotr Jedraszczyk to man-mark á Skipagøtu, the Faroe Islands' coach Peter Bredsdorff-Larsen changed tactics and played seven-on-six which allowed á Skipagøtu space to express himself on the court as he ended the match with nine goals scored and another Player of the Match award.

Expect to see much more of á Skipagøtu – and his young teammates – in the future.