A few days before the start of the second half of the Regionalliga season against Düsseldorf II, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen played its third preseason match.

Regionalliga club Rot-Weiß Oberhausen has completed its second preseason match at training camp in Side. The match against Regionalliga side FSV Luckenwalde ended in a 1-1 draw—RWO took the lead with a goal by Eric Gueye.

It was the third friendly of their short preseason following a 2-5 loss to third-division side VfL Osnabrück and a 1-3 loss to Regionalliga side 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig.

After the final friendly in Side, Oberhausen’s Kevin Kratzsch analyzed the match: “We really got off to a rough start and took a long time to find solutions against the opponent’s tight defense. But after Eric’s goal, we got more into the game and were increasingly able to take control of the match. We actually came out of the break pretty well, but then missed our chance to add a second goal. Toward the end of the game, you could really tell that we were running out of steam after an intense week and our legs were getting heavier and heavier. In the end, it was a solid conclusion to the training camp, during which we worked through a lot of drills and everyone pulled together. I think we’re on the right track.”

RWO coach Sebastian Gunkel saw it similarly: “It was the tough challenge we expected against a team that works very well defensively, especially when defending. We tried to put pressure on Luckenwalde early on. However, it has to be said that the gaps were often too wide, which can happen at the end of an intense training camp. In the end, our legs naturally get heavier, and we concede another goal off a set piece. That’s happening to us too often right now, and we need to keep working on that in the coming week.”

In just a few days, action resumes in the Regionalliga West, with RWO first facing Fortuna Düsseldorf’s U23 team at home (Saturday, January 24, 2:00 p.m.).

Ahead of the battle for promotion, Gunkel summed up the training camp: “We had excellent conditions and were able to focus on a lot of different aspects, even if things didn’t always go perfectly because one or two players were sidelined briefly. We’d like to thank everyone once again who made this trip possible for us. For now, our focus is on recovery, because the week took a bit out of all of us. Although the preparation time is relatively short, we’re already looking forward to our first competitive match against Düsseldorf this coming Saturday.”