Heiner Backhaus, coach of Alemannia Aachen, is overwhelmed by the atmosphere in Rostock’s Ostseestadion after his team’s 2-1 away win.

Before the game, Alemannia Aachen and FC Hansa Rostock were level on points, but after the final whistle, there are now five places between the newly promoted team from the Regionalliga and the team relegated from the 2. Bundesliga. Thanks to their somewhat fortunate 2-1 away win in Rostock, Aachen has made a huge leap in the table and is out of the relegation zone for the time being.

Thanks to their first ever win at Rostock’s Ostseestadion, the players from the imperial city are now unbeaten in four games. Alemannia Aachen coach Heiner Backhaus is particularly impressed by the stadium: “The atmosphere here is the ultimate. I say that as the Aachen coach, and the atmosphere there is already at its peak. But I’ve rarely experienced anything like this from three sides.”

He describes it as a privilege to be able to coach in such an arena. “These are the games you look forward to as a promoted team, the ones you use as motivation and inspiration in important regional league games,” added the Aachen coach, who almost lost his voice at the press conference due to the noise in the Rostock stadium.

As in Alemannia’s last victory a month ago against Viktoria Cologne, it was left-back Saša Strujić who scored the winning goal for Aachen. Strujić seems to have discovered his goal-scoring gene: he also played a key role in Aachen’s victory against Rostock with his brace.

In the 16th minute, he took a cross with a drop kick and scored from close range. “You play really well for 15 minutes, and in that phase you even score a goal with your first chance,” Backhaus praised. After that, however, Rostock got better and better, and Aachen lost control.

“Our play with the ball from the 15th minute onwards was poor. We’ve played much better than that,” admitted the 42-year-old. The Hanseatic city side equalized through Sigurd Haugen and pushed for the lead in the second half, but shortly before the end, Strujić was in the right place at the right time after a corner, heading the ball into the net to spark wild celebrations among the traveling fans and his teammates. He is happy to accept the yellow card for pulling his shirt off.

The defeat leaves Rostock in 17th place, which would mean direct relegation. Hansa coach Bernd Hollerbach is understandably dissatisfied: “The result is bitter because we invested a lot. But if you don’t take your chances, you end up conceding one.”

However, he doesn’t just criticize his own team, but is also full of praise for Alemannia: “Aachen is stable, the processes are right. Something has grown there. That could be a good example for us to follow, to grow together like that.”