Third division club Rot-Weiss Essen celebrated a surprise coup against Dynamo Dresden (3:1). Much to the delight of head coach Christoph Dabrowski.

What an afternoon at Hafenstraße! Rot-Weiss Essen beat leaders Dynamo Dresden 3:1 (1:0) in front of 18,657 spectators and climbed to eighth place in the table. Who would have thought that?

The game was not as clear-cut as the result would suggest – quite the opposite. In the first half, Dresden appeared with the self-confidence of a league leader and was the better, more active team. However, it was RWE who scored the goal: The very strong Felix Götze headed home a corner in the 25th minute to give Essen a flattering lead, which they held on to at the break.

“It was clear to us that Dresden are a top team that also wants to dominate the game. You could see that over long stretches. We had the luck of the game on our side in the first half,” explained Essen head coach Christoph Dabrowski.

After the break, Dabrowski made a tactical change, moving captain Felix Bastians to central defense and playing a 5-3-2 system. In the second half, RWE managed to keep the leaders away from their own goal. Dresden had two or three good opportunities, but the Essen defense stood firm for the most part and defended consistently.

And Rot-Weiss also put pinpricks forward – with success: Bastians scored the 2-0 in the 80th minute and Moussa Doumbouya finally put the lid on it shortly before stoppage time (89th). Almost at the final whistle, Dresden’s Panagiotis Vlachodimos reduced the score to 1:3, but there was no longer any doubt about the home side’s victory.

There was a lot of encouragement for the team from the stands afterwards, but coach Dabrowski also deserved praise. His tactical change in the second half paid off and brought more security and stability to the game of the third division team.

I then wanted to stop that problem with the change to defend in a 5-3-2 system. We wanted to keep the center and the interfaces closed. I think we managed that quite well.

Christoph Dabrowski

After the final whistle, the 45-year-old explained his idea behind the switch from a four-man to a five-man chain: “In the first half, we saw the many deep running routes of Dresden’s back eight and the fast wingers who kept running into the interfaces. We had massive problems there and couldn’t get a grip. I wanted to stop that problem with the change to defend in a 5-3-2 system. We wanted to close off the center and the interfaces. I think we managed that quite well. “