The opening game of the 18th matchday of the Regionalliga West in Cologne saw a thrilling derby with a dramatic finale.

The second half of the Regionalliga West season kicked off in Cologne with a real top game. After all, the fourth-placed 1. FC Köln U21 and second-placed Fortuna Köln met on Friday evening (December 1).

And the hosts took an offensive approach right from the kick-off in the Franz Kremer Stadium: a long ball from Meiko Wäschenbach flew through the Fortuna defense and found Pierre Nadjombe, who kept his nerve after a good ten seconds and gave the “Effzeh” an early lead.

The game slowed down after this lightning start, but picked up again around the half-hour mark. Stipe Batarilo had the best chance for Fortuna (30th), then the home side struck back with a brace. Damion Downs converted a foul on Justin Diehl (36th), and just two minutes later Diehl made it 3-0 himself.

In the second half, neither side managed to create many chances. The game remained quiet until the 68th minute: almost out of nowhere, substitute Danny Breitfelder scored from a cross from the right to make it 1-3 – with over twenty minutes still to play, Fortuna still had plenty of time.

Damaj misses chance to win for Fortuna

But the Effzeh threw everything into it, while the guests increased the pressure more and more and pulled off a real power play in the final minutes. This went well for the hosts for a long time, but in the 87th minute the bolt was cracked a second time: this time it was Dominik Lanius who scored the 2:3 with a deflected shot.

Now the home side seemed broken, while Fortuna actually equalized. A free-kick found the head of Jonas Scholz, who nodded in the 3:3 in injury time (90.+1). And there was even the opportunity for an away win, but substitute Leon Damaj was stopped by Effzeh goalkeeper Jonas Nickisch.

So it remained a point draw, with which, before the games on Saturday, neither of the two in the promotion race can really put pressure on the leaders 1. FC Bocholt and the rest of the competition.