Alemannia Aachen won 1-0 (1-0) at Fortuna Cologne to kick off the 10th matchday in the Regionalliga West. The visitors were outnumbered early on.

Alemannia Aachen defeated league leaders Fortuna Köln 1-0 (1-0) in front of an incredible crowd of 7,672 spectators at the Südstadion. Coach Heiner Backhaus’ team played for more than an hour on Friday with a shorthanded team.

Even before the game, it was clear that it would be a long evening. The duel of the two traditional clubs led to such long lines that the game was supposed to start a quarter of an hour later.

But kickoff was delayed even further because Alemannia fans who had come along set off pyrotechnics. The game itself, on the other hand, was not immediately at operating temperature. Instead, the flaring in the visitors’ area did not stop, and the Cologne curve responded in turn with bengalos.

Into the fireworks Lukas Scepanik (23rd) scored for Alemannia out of nowhere. With the first own attack, the guests took the lead. The reaction in the Aachen block: pyrotechnics. Referee Yannick Rupert interrupted the game and sent both teams off the field.

A stoppage of play did not seem out of the question, but after a few minutes the game could continue. As soon as the ball started rolling again, Aachen weakened itself. Julian Schwermann received a yellow card within ten minutes (17th, 27th). Thus, the guests were outnumbered for over an hour.

Fortuna was the more active team even before the sending-off. With one player more, Cologne had more shots, but without any penetrating power. A shot by Arnold Budimbu (31st), header Justin Steinkötter (39th) and again Budimbu (44th) did not find their way into the Aachen goal.

In half-time two the same picture: Cologne starts and in the visitors’ block there is flaming. The stadium announcer admonished the fans in a continuous loop, but referee Rupert did not interrupt the game again.

Aachen defended its own goal with ten men. Fortuna couldn’t find a gap, had to try again and again from a distance and slowly began to despair. One attack after another came to nothing.

Instead, it was almost Aachen that decided the game. Elsamed Ramaj only had to push in one of the rare counterattacks, but he shot over (79th). With the exception of this scene, almost the entire second half was played in the visitors’ half.

Then jubilation in the Südstadion: The ball is in the net, but the assistant’s flag is also in the air – offside (84th). The final phase continued to come to a head. After a corner, Cologne demanded a handball penalty, but the whistle failed to blow (86th). The 1-1 would have been highly deserved at this point, but a last volley also sailed over the goal – as so often on this evening (90th).

Aachen thus actually managed to inflict its second defeat on Fortuna and take three points home with it. For the Cologne team, it is the second game in a row without a win after the 1-1 draw at Fortuna Düsseldorf II. As a result, a draw at home against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (2 p.m., RS live ticker) on Saturday will be enough for 1. FC Düren to take over the top spot in the standings.