SG Wattenscheid 09 drew 0-0 with Spielvereinigung Erkenschwick in their last home game of the year. A dubious offside decision raised questions.
At the end of a busy week, SG Wattenscheid 09 could not manage more than a draw in a tough and disjointed derby against Spielvereinigung Erkenschwick.
Despite several scoring opportunities, the final score was 0-0. Due to the energy-sapping cup match against regional league team FC Gütersloh on Wednesday (3-4 defeat on penalties), SGW head coach Christopher Pache rotated his squad and had to do without three key players. Steve Tunga remained on the bench for 90 minutes, while Kevin Schacht was not even in the squad. The same was true for Ilias Anan, who was still missing due to his participation in the Small Field World Cup in Mexico. The first chance of the game would remain the biggest: Berkan Firat appeared in the box after only 45 seconds of play and slammed the ball against the goalpost. “If he had put it ten centimeters to the left, the ball would have been in. Then we would have seen a completely different game,“ Pache summed up. The visitors sat deep, gave the tired Wattenscheid players space, and hardly pressed. This forced the league leaders to create solutions throughout the game, which they found difficult for the most part. ”We played a little too wildly. We didn’t always make the right decisions near the box.
The first touch was often sloppy, and the decision to lay it off wasn’t there,” said coach Pache, criticizing the hectic pace. Shortly after the break (47th minute), things looked different in one situation: Firat played a through ball to Robert Nnaji, who shot directly and scored the supposed 1-0 in the far corner.
Annoyingly, the linesman raised his flag and ruled the striker offside – a clear misjudgment. Pache: “I have to watch it on video. If it wasn’t offside, I’ll eat my hat. That was brutally played out.“
As time went on, the fans in the stands became increasingly impatient, audibly complaining that the ball should have crossed the line. Expectations in Wattenscheid are different now. Pache rightly pointed out: ”We’ve had an intense week. Nothing is given to you for free in this league. You can’t underestimate that. You go in with a certain self-image and only see the table, but every game has to be worked hard for.”
Even the lucky punch in injury time, when Nico Buckmaier narrowly missed a header from Serhat Kacmaz (90 + 2), was not to be. The visitors’ coach Nassir Malyar was understandably delighted: “We’re going home happy. We had a bit of luck on our side at times. You need that to get something out of a game here. We left our hearts on the pitch.”
Next week, Erkenschwick will host Spielvereinigung Vreden (December 13, 3:00 p.m.). The day before, there will be a top-of-the-table clash between SV Lippstadt and SGW (December 12, 7:00 p.m.).