The SSVg Velbert got off the mark on matchday 20 of the Regionalliga West. The team managed by coach Dimitrios Pappas defeated FC Gütersloh 2-1.
SSVg Velbert, bottom of the Regionalliga West, were able to celebrate again on matchday 20 after eight consecutive league matches without a win: Velbert celebrated a 2-1 away win at FC Gütersloh, their first three points since September. Cellou Diallo scored both goals for Velbert (7′, 22′), with Kevin Freiberger scoring for FCG (43′).
Velbert’s success was helped by the early sending off of Gütersloh midfielder Allan Firmino Dantas, who was dismissed for an emergency brake after just six minutes. “We’ve had enough of a beating this season, we earned the win against Gütersloh,” said a visibly relieved Velbert coach Dimitrios Pappas at the subsequent press conference.
“We knew that Gütersloh played a lot out of the back and therefore trained the pressing intensively. With the ball win that led to the red card, we were able to implement that directly and were able to convert the free-kick to make it 1-0. We were also able to add the 2-0 straight away,” said Pappas, praising his team.
After the SSVg did not let the subsequent goal unsettle them either, the bottom-of-the-league team secured three points in the battle against relegation. “In the end, we deserved to win and it was a very important victory for us to get off to a good start in the second half of the season,” the 43-year-old summarized.
Normally, I’m the kind of coach who always protects his team. But I find it very difficult to live with this action.
Julian Hesse
FC Gütersloh had to accept another defeat after the unsuccessful start to the second half of the season against the U23 team of SC Paderborn (1:3). Julian Hesse, coach of the East Westphalia team, was particularly annoyed about the red card and criticized his team for it: “Normally, I’m a coach who always protects his team. But I find that action very hard to live with,” said Hesse, referring to the sending off of Allan Firmino Dantas.
“We talked about it all week, that we don’t want to build up flat because the pitch is so difficult to play on. We said 50 times that we want to build the game with long balls to gain security. So it’s incomprehensible to me how we build up flat on the first action. In the end, it kills the game,” the FCG coach criticized the inadequate implementation of his idea.
FC Gütersloh thus remains in tenth place in the table, but can still be overtaken by SC Paderborn II. Both Velbert and Gütersloh have an English week ahead of them. While Hesse’s team plays against SC Wiedenbrück in the East Westphalia derby (February 6, 7:30 p.m.), the Bergisch team will host Rot-Weiß Oberhausen at the same time.