Rot-Weiß Oberhausen lost 1–6 in a closed-door friendly against third-division side Viktoria Köln. Center back Drew Murray was sent off, and a guest player also took part.
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen used the international break to play a friendly behind closed doors. RWO visited third-division side Viktoria Köln on Friday afternoon. The Kleeblätter ultimately suffered a heavy 1-6 (1-2) defeat.
Head coach Sebastian Gunkel gave playing time to players from the second string and left out several regulars. Luca Schlax, Pierre Fassnacht, Michel Niemeyer, and Timur Kesim were not in the squad. In addition to Hasan Onur and Andrija Simic from the club’s own U19 team, the squad also included trialist Deli Hajdini. Hajdini is a 19-year-old winger under contract with VfB Stuttgart’s second team. The German-Kosovar has yet to make an appearance in the current third-division season.
Cologne, who had advanced to the Mittelrhein Cup final the night before with a 4-1 win over Eintracht Hohkeppel, got off to a better start. After just four minutes, Duan had the first scoring chance, but RWO keeper Valentine was on hand and tipped the ball over the crossbar. Shortly thereafter, Boboy found himself unmarked in the center following a corner and slotted home from close range to give his team the lead (6th minute).
The Red-Whites shook it off quickly and got into the game better from then on. After a back pass from the Cologne defense was too short, Krohn reacted quickly to win the ball and ran toward the goal from a position slightly to the right. David Richter in the Viktoria goal was already beaten, but the post prevented the equalizer (11th minute). RWO now had more possession and equalized after a fine combination: Krohn and Aourir outmaneuvered the entire Cologne defense with a spectacular series of passes. The latter finally rounded Richter and scored to make it 1-1 (21st minute).
What followed was an intense, evenly matched duel that often took place between the two penalty areas. Five minutes before halftime, things got heated on the field. After a scuffle broke out, David Otto was shown a yellow card and Drew Murray was sent off with a red. With a man advantage, Cologne regained the lead shortly before the halftime whistle through Otto (44′).
With an extra man on the field, the third-division side then pulled away decisively. After a long ball to the left flank, Kozuki burst into the box at full speed and slotted the ball into the far corner (61′). About 20 minutes before the end, Gunkel’s team made too many mistakes in their build-up play, which Viktoria ruthlessly capitalized on within three minutes. Kozuki (71′), Sarikaya (72′), and Kozuki again (73′) pushed the score to 6-1.
On Easter Sunday (April 5, 2 p.m.), RWO will be back in action in the Regionalliga West with an away match against SC Paderborn’s U21 team.