The U19 Lower Rhine League has another new leader. And KFC Uerdingen are slowly making progress.

Rot-Weiss Essen have snatched the top spot in the U19 Lower Rhine League. As the Essen side played their game a little later on Sunday, they already knew that a three-pointer at Dostlukspor Bottrop would be enough to knock TSV Meerbusch off top spot again.

TSV missed out on a win of their own. They only drew 1-1 at Arminia Klosterhardt, with Dave Fotso Yousmi’s own goal giving the Oberhausen side the lead. Boyan Boev only managed to make it 1-1 three minutes before the end.

RWE were able to take advantage of Meerbusch’s slip-up, as they will be competing this year without the pressure of being promoted. This is because there will be a reform at junior level next season.

One change: The 56 German clubs with an NLZ are automatically in the new league with the top teams. RWE is one of them, but coach Simon Hohenberg’s team still wants to end up in first place in the Lower Rhine League.

The start was made with the 4:0 against Dostlukspor. Milot Ademi, Mamadou Barry, Noel-Etienne Reck and Glenn Byakoua Youbi scored for RWE.

SG Unterrath can also keep pace with RWE and Meerbusch in third place. On Sunday, they won 2:0 at VfB Hilden. Meanwhile, the U19s of Spvg Schonnebeck, who played strongly for a long time, are slowly having to say goodbye to the top spot. The 3-1 defeat at SG Essen-Schönebeck was their fourth winless game in a row. First place is already six points away.

The gap between Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and the top is even greater. It’s easy to see where RWO’s problems lie: the Cloverleafs aren’t scoring enough goals, and they also drew 0-0 at Viktoria Buchholz. That means sixth place for RWO.

KFC Uerdingen, on the other hand, are getting better and better this season. The 4:2 win at SC Velbert was their third win of the season, which was not to be expected after the bad start. The Krefeld side have now climbed to eleventh place.

The U19 Lower Rhine League continues on Sunday (December 3).