As efficient as Red-White Essen was against Cottbus, as bad as was the way Essen converted chances in the Ore Mountains. Now, relegation in the 3rd division threatens on Sunday. In addition, Brumme saw yellow-red.
Even before the game between Rot-Weiss Essen and Erzegbirge Aue, it was clear that the competition had played for RWE. VfL Osnabrück lost, Hansa Rostock lost and the U23 team of Hannover 96 lost their game on Sunday at home against FC Ingolstadt 0:4.
This made it clear that if RWE’s victory over Cottbus was given the full three points, they could climb to twelfth place before the last game of the match day between the U23 team of VfB Stuttgart and SpVgg Unterhaching.
But in front of 7,832 spectators, things turned out differently, with RWE losing the game 1:2 (0:1). For Aue, this was the first home win after three home games without a win. Where the Essen team showed ruthless efficiency against Cottbus, they clearly made too many mistakes in Aue.
RWE coach Christoph Dabrowski trusted the same eleven that beat Cottbus 4-0. He also used the defensive tactics that led to success against Cottbus.
But in Aue, the first pinprick did not work and Lucas Brumme did not look good at the back after twelve minutes. Pascal Fallmann took advantage of this and scored early to give the home side the lead.
It was one of two moments of inattention by RWE, who remained in a defensive alignment even after the 0-1 and relied on the pinprick tactic. But even the second lapse of concentration resulted in a goal against an opponent who, with all that possession, didn’t really know what to do with the ball any more than Cottbus did a week ago. This time, Eric Voufack slept on a cross and Marvin Stefaniak scored just before half-time to make it 2-0.
And RWE? They also had two opportunities after counterattacks. First, Leonardo Vonic just missed the 1-1 after a cross from Voufack, then Kelsey Owusu ran towards the Auer goal on a counterattack and was stopped from finishing at the last second by a strong sliding tackle from Erik Majetschak.
Dabrowski made a change at the break, with Thomas Eisfeld replacing Voufack. RWE now played more offensively and had three chances in the 56th minute against a rather unconvincing Auer side. But neither Ramien Safi, Vonic nor Torben Müsel could score. On 68 minutes, it was Vonic again who missed the target from three meters after a Brumme cross.
Seven minutes before the end, Ahmet Arslan made it even worse after perfect work by Brumme. From three meters, he managed to miss the goal in a slapstick manner.
It just wasn’t meant to be that day. RWE had more shots on goal and significantly better chances, but it felt like they wouldn’t have hit a high-rise building. Nevertheless, RWE did score – albeit in the last minute of stoppage time. They couldn’t score from a few meters out, but Arslan scored a dream goal. But that was the end of it.
It was also bitter because Brumme, who had already been booked, grumbled after the final whistle and was shown a yellow-red card. RWE thus remain in 16th place for the time being. If the U23 team of VfB Stuttgart wins by two goals against Unterhaching in Sunday’s evening game, RWE would slide into the first relegation place.
RWE will resume after the international break on Saturday (November 23, 2:00 p.m.) against SV Sandhausen. Aue will play against BVB’s U23 team the following day (7:30 p.m.).