Rot-Weiß Oberhausen have made it to the quarter-finals of the Niederrhein Cup with great difficulty. RWO were 2:0 down against 1. FC Monheim until the 85th minute.

A memorable start to the Lower Rhine Cup round of 16: At the start of the third round, it looked like Rot-Weiß Oberhausen would be knocked out. Up until the 85th minute, the regional league team was 2-0 down against the state league team 1. FC Monheim – but then turned it around and won 4-2. This means that the clover leaves can continue to dream of the title. Monheim, on the other hand, went unrewarded for a great fight.

After being relegated from the Oberliga, Monheim is back on track. Still undefeated, they are in second place in the Landesliga. The resulting self-confidence was evident from the start.

The underdog shocked the favorites as early as the second minute. Robin Schnadt scored the surprising lead. And it got even better for Monheim: in the twelfth minute, the hosts attacked again on the left side – and again Schnadt was ready to receive.

Now RWO were trailing 0-2. Monheim had played on Sunday, while Oberhausen had a free weekend and coach Nowak avoided a major rotation in his starting lineup.

The Kleeblätter’s offense simply didn’t create enough chances, and bringing on top striker Sven Kreyer at the start of the second half initially did nothing to change that. RWO continued to attack until deep into the final phase, but found no way past Monheim’s strong defense.

Five minutes before the end of regular time, tension rose again. Moritz Stoppelkamp converted a free kick (85′). Only the subsequent goal – or more? But more, because now the laws of football took effect. RWO piled on the pressure, Monheim could no longer hold out.

With the start of extra time, Kreyer scored the equalizer (90th). And then RWO also managed the lucky punch: Cottrell Ezekwem scored to make it 3:2 and turned the game completely on its head (90.+3), Rinor Rexha increased the lead to 4:2 (90.+6). That’s how it stayed.

A bitter end for the valiantly fighting Monheimers, who were very close to a sensation against last year’s finalist, while RWO just managed to escape with a win.

After this crazy cup game, Nowak’s team will continue with the regional league home game against Schalke’s U23 on Saturday. Monheim will face VSF Amern.