SSVg Velbert rounded off their Regionalliga return with a 2-0 (0-0) win over SV Lippstadt. Head coach Dimitrios Pappas wants to be an unpleasant opponent.

SSVg Velbert got off to a near-perfect start to the Regionalliga season: despite a game that was low on chances, the promoted team was able to record an unchallenged 2-0 (0-0) win against SV Lippstadt and earn the first three points to help them stay in the relegation zone.

At the start of the game, both teams approached each other slowly. It was not to rush anything and not to take any risks. “For us it was very important to get into the game well. That took a bit of time. No one really knows where they stand in the first game,” Velbert coach Dimitrios Pappas summed up the opening minutes.

His counterpart, Lippstadt coach Felix Bechtold, observed a similarly quiet first half: “It was a classic 0-0 game for a long time. Nothing outstanding, almost without scoring chances. Both teams did not yet know exactly where they stand. The players approached it with respect and showed little courage.”

After the change of ends, the hosts then shifted up a gear and became increasingly stronger. In the 67th minute of the game, newcomer Markus Pazurek finally redeemed his team with a header for a deserved 1-0 lead. In the final phase, Benjamin Hemcke put the lid on it and scored the 2:0 (85th) after some great work by Manuel Schiebener.

A disappointed Lippstadt coach acknowledged the playful superiority of the promoted team after the break without envy and criticized his team: “We didn’t manage to create opportunities for ourselves. The opponent did a better job with the 2:0. We are very disappointed and now know what we have to do. I have some catching up to do with my completely renewed team, because nothing really went right at the start,” Bechtold told us.

For SSVg Velbert, the goal this season is to achieve the best possible

confident league stay. The first sprint of a long marathon has succeeded with the 2-0 win. Coach Pappas wants to “first and foremost plow” for the big goal and demands from his team: “We have to be disgusting at home, go into every duel and then play soccer. That worked directly in the opener and was rewarded with a deserved victory. “