District league team SV Burgaltendorf has been unbeaten in all competitions since November 2022. Coach Sascha Hense wants to continue this streak in the cup.
For Sascha Hense, the return to Vogelheim was extremely emotional. The coach of the district league team SV Burgaltendorf visited his former club Vogelheimer SV last Sunday. At Lichtenhorst, the now 45-year-old was first active as a player and then as a coach for eight years from 2014 to 2022.
Hense had shaped an era at VSV. Now, on the 22nd matchday, he returned to his old stomping ground for the first time in a competitive match. With success: Burgaltendorf won the chasing duel 2-1 and defended their fourth place in the table. Second place is only one point away, the gap to the leaders SG Schönebeck is eight points.
A few days later, Hense spoke about the first game in Vogelheim after his voluntary departure in the summer: “Of course it was emotional. I still have many friends there. It was nice to see many familiar faces again – especially Frank Brettschneider and Hasan Bugdaci. I was very happy about that. I had already been given an honourable send-off in the summer. During the 90 minutes, however, my full focus was on my team. The boys were tactically very disciplined and were able to implement the instructions. It was a very good game from both sides. We want to continue to do our homework and apply pressure.”
Before Hense and his team continue in the league with the home match (2 April, 3 pm) against the U23 of SSVg Velbert, another important match is on the agenda. On Thursday evening (30 March, 7 p.m.), Burgaltendorf will host the district league team ESG 99-06 in the district cup quarter-finals. With a win, the SVA will not only qualify for the semi-finals, but also for the Niederrheinpokal next season.
All of Essen football knows how beautiful the Niederrheinpokal can be. This competition is always attractive and lucrative. We sold ourselves very well against RWE and got a good result. On Thursday, we want to punch our ticket for the Niederrheinpokal again.
Sascha Hense.
The district league club still knows how lucrative the competition is from the current cup season. There, the club got the dream draw Rot-Weiss Essen in the first round and lost – after a passionate performance – with 0:5.
Hense, who is the coach together with Andreas Krippel, hopes that his team will live up to their role as favourites against ESG, but he knows how difficult the task is. “All of Essen football knows how beautiful the Niederrheinpokal can be. This competition is always attractive and lucrative. We sold ourselves very well against RWE back then and achieved a good result. On Thursday, we want to punch our ticket for the Niederrheinpokal again. But that won’t be easy. We won’t underestimate our opponents,” emphasised Hense.
