The leaders of both top leagues were challenged on Friday evening. While things got exciting in Westphalia, Baumberg remained in control in the Lower Rhine region.

The onset of winter in North Rhine-Westphalia has also led to a number of cancellations in the top leagues. (to the overview). On Friday evening (December 1), two games were on the program, one each in Westphalia and the Lower Rhine.

In the Oberliga Westfalen, a real top match was on the agenda: League leaders VfL Sportfreunde Lotte hosted third-placed SV Schermbeck. Six points separated the two before the game. And the visitors can feel like the winners of the matchday after an exchange of blows, with the Schermbeck side winning 3:2 (2:1) after 90 minutes.

At the start of the game, it looked as though the leaders could be on course for their fourth win in a row. In the 24th minute, Yassin Ibrahim put Sportfreunde ahead following a Schermbeck corner and the ensuing counter-attack. SVS turned this into a 2:1 lead at the break through Hendrik Christian Löbler (30′) and Timur Karagülmez (42′).

The game was then completely open again in the 78th minute: Halil Can Dogan equalized and brought the Lotters back into the game. Nevertheless, the visitors took the win. In the end, Miles Grumann’s goal to make it 3:2 (85′) rewarded SVS for their hard work with three points

Leaders do their homework

In the Oberliga Niederrhein, the league leaders fared much better and were able to celebrate a clear home win in the end. Sportfreunde Baumberg beat tenth-placed Union Nettetal 3:0 (1:0) and continue to march ahead.

Enes Topal (32) put Baumberg on the road to victory in the first half. A yellow card against the visitors (70′) then finally broke Nettetal’s back, and in just a few minutes Subaru Nishimura (71′) and Baris Sarikaya (74′) were able to decide the game.

Sportfreunde Baumberg now have an eight-point lead over Germania Ratingen – with one game more than their closest rivals – and will host Sportfreunde Hamborn on Sunday (3 December, 3 p.m.).