Before the Regionalliga match against Wattenscheid 09, Rot Weiss Ahlen had to make up for lost time in the first round of the Westfalenpokal. It took a penalty shoot-out for RWA to defeat Eintracht Rheine.

Rot Weiss Ahlen had a successful start to the season and surprisingly collected four points against the favourites Wuppertaler SV (2:1) and Fortuna Köln (1:1). On Wednesday evening, however, RWA almost stumbled for the first time. In the first round of the Westphalia Cup, Andreas Zimmermann’s team had to play against Eintracht Rheine. It was only in a penalty shoot-out that the Ahlen team managed to advance to the next round, winning 8:7 (1:1, 3:3, 3:3).

“We reached the second round, that was our goal,” coach Zimmermann was quoted as saying on the club’s website. He pointed out that reigning title holders SV Rödinghausen were also forced into a penalty shoot-out by Rheine on their way to winning the cup. “There you can see how strong Eintracht are.”

So the duty is done, but there is not much time for regeneration. After all, less than 72 hours after the final whistle, there is a home game against SG Wattenscheid, who will not be challenged in the cup until next week – and who, after two defeats at the start, are hungry for their first win of the season.

But back to the cup: Ahlen’s Jan Holldack had equalised the early deficit by Rheine’s Luca Ehler (25.) via penalty kick (34.). RWA also had an answer to Eintracht’s renewed lead (Mick Schüttpelz/55th) (Andre Dej/56th). Then the higher-class guest went forward for the first time, Holldack scored to make it 3:2 (64.). The progress came closer, but in injury time Luca Meyer made Rheine cheer with the 3:3.

In the end, however, the favourite laughed. All of Ahlen’s shooters converted in the penalty shoot-out, while goalkeeper Martin Velichkov saved a Rheine penalty kick and thus secured their entry into the second round. “I wasn’t nervous at all, because I was sure that we would advance,” Zimmermann said.

Regional league rival SC Wiedenbrück had a much easier time getting through to the second round: SCW beat district league team VfR Wellensiek 7:0.