FC Kray secured a crucial victory after nine games without a win. Coach Dimitrios Pappas is relieved and is looking ahead to the final three matches before Christmas.

With a narrow but deserved 3-2 win against bottom-of-the-table Rhenania Bottrop, FC Kray secured a crucial breakthrough in the Landesliga Niederrhein 2. Thanks to the three points, Coach Dimitrios Pappas’s team moved up to 13th place in the standings and is now above the relegation zone heading into the weekend break.

Pappas was very satisfied with the majority of the game overall. However, there were one or two situations that bothered him. These primarily concerned the first goal conceded and the final ten minutes that followed.

“We take a 3-0 lead, and then something happens that shouldn’t: a careless misplaced pass because we were desperate to play it out from the back,” reports the FC coach, adding: “The final ten minutes reminded us of times when we were still learning. But the three points are what count. We want to get away from the relegation zone, and we’ve managed that for now.”

And that was an especially important step at home against the bottom-of-the-table team. For Pappas, the win was somewhat of a must-win, but by no means a foregone conclusion, especially given the team’s nine-game winless streak. “If we had lost to the bottom team, then we would have had more to worry about. But it could have gone very differently; Mülheimer FC was at the bottom of the table when we lost to them,” says the Kray coach.

Ahead of the now somewhat longer break before the next competitive match, the three points should lift spirits among the Kray players. The coach sees it similarly and hopes for a positive effect on his team: “We have a young squad, so this win is good for the boys’ morale.”

For the remaining matches before the winter break, the Essen team is focusing primarily on the home game against PSV Wesel-Lackhausen. This match is sandwiched between away games against the current league leaders, VfB Bottrop and ESC Rellinghausen.

“We’re focusing more on Lackhausen so we can get a good result there. Everything else is a bonus. Sure, we want to give the other two a bit of a run for their money too. If it works out, it works out; if not, it’s no big deal. No one is really counting on us there,” Pappas looks ahead and makes it clear: “We have a clear goal, and that is to avoid relegation.”