Patrick Helmes has been head coach at Sportfreunde Siegen since the beginning of the year. The trend in recent weeks has been upwards. RS spoke to the former international.

In the current Oberliga Westfalen season, it is a matter of bare survival for the traditional club Sportfreunde Siegen. The former second-division club is in acute danger of relegation. Ex-Bundesliga professional Patrick Helmes is supposed to avert the fall.

The 39-year-old has been head coach at the Leimbachstadion since the beginning of the year. The first win under his leadership came against promotion candidates SV Westfalia Rhynern.

For Helmes, the 1:0 victory was an exclamation mark in the direction of the competition: “It is brutally important to have sent this signal. But I also said after all the draws that every point counts in the relegation battle.”

In the first six games under Helmes, Sportfreunde fought their way to three draws and one win. The trend is pointing upwards: “You can interpret football however you like. It’s always the performance that counts, and that was consistently positive against Rhynern. Even though we know that we should have scored 2:0 to decide the game. Nevertheless, I don’t want to complain and I’m just happy that we won,” Helmes summed up.

For the former striker, the task in the Siegerland is a return to his homeland. Helmes wore the Sportfreunde jersey between 2000 and 2005. First as a youth player, later as a professional.

From there, he made the leap to 1. FC Köln and into the Bundesliga. Now he recognises the first improvements under him as coach: “In total, it is quite simply statistically provable. We have scored in four games. And some of them for 35 minutes with a shorthanded team, like against Finnentrop. The boys are fighting against a lot of opposition. In Rhynern it was our best and most consistent performance so far. “

The boys are all very hardworking. The way you want to go just takes time

Patrick Helmes

The situation in the relegation region of the Oberliga table is highly exciting. Only Delbrücker SC is relegated and brings up the rear. Sportfreunde Siegen have two catch-up games up their sleeve and could make a big leap towards mid-table with positive results. “It’s very tight in the bottom of the table. But I already knew that in January. We didn’t bring in any new players in the winter and are continuing to work with the same team. The boys are all very hard-working. The path you want to take simply needs time. But we don’t have that because we have to win game after game to get out of the bottom,” Helmes analysed.

For the 13-time German international and Sportfreunde Siegen, the next match is next Wednesday (29 March, 8 p.m.) at league leaders SC Preußen Münster II.

Helmes wants to appear full of self-confidence and with a broad chest: “The level in the Oberliga is very close. We absolutely showed in Rhynern that we can keep up against a top team. We also did that at home against Bövinghausen. In any case, we have to become more consistent and colder in attack. “