Disappointment at Rot-Weiss Essen: After Julian Eitschberger was sent off, they suffered a deserved 3-1 defeat against SC Verl in the first half.

Rot-Weiss Essen simply can’t win against SC Verl in the 3rd division. On the eleventh matchday, RWE lost 1:3 (0:0) at home to the Sportclub. This means that Verl has also overtaken Essen in the table.

From the outset, the visitors from East Westphalia took control and had a lot of possession. After five minutes, the club from Verl had their first chance when Berkan Taz was able to finish freely in the Essen penalty area, but he shot over the goal. RWE then became a bit more active, with Ahmet Arslan trying his luck from distance after receiving a pass from Torben Müsel; SCV keeper Philipp Schulze was able to make a safe save (14′).

Nevertheless, Verl clearly dominated the opening phase and went close to scoring the opening goal in the 22nd minute through Lars Lokotsch, but the striker’s goal was rightly disallowed as he handled the ball when receiving it.

After almost half an hour, the Essen team were then down to ten men: Julian Eitschberger committed a tactical foul on Taz and was initially punished with yellow. However, referee Nico Fuchs then revised his decision and showed the U20 national player the red card (32nd minute)! The fouled player also had to be substituted due to injury.

Christoph Dabrowski’s team now had to survive for almost 60 minutes with ten men. RWE retreated and looked to counterattack. SC Verl may have been optically superior in the first half, but they didn’t pose any serious danger. So it went into the break with a goalless draw and under deafening whistles for the referee team.

RWE were dealt a harsh blow just 30 seconds after the restart: Verl combined their way through the Essen defence and hit the post. Chilohem Onuoha, who had come on at half-time, was in the right place to tap in (46′).

The home side almost had a quick reply ready. Müsel marched through midfield and then took a shot, his shot landing in the arms of Schulze (53′). In the middle of RWE’s best phase, the sports club then struck: Onouha served Jonas Arweiler with great vision, who then completed the 0:2 (56′).

Dabrowski responded by making three changes. A few moments later, the home side were awarded a penalty after Michel Stöcker handled. Manuel Wintzheimer confidently converted the spot-kick to bring RWE back into contention (72′).

Suddenly, everything was back to square one, with the home side showing great spirit. Kelsey Owusu had an opportunity to equalize in the 74th minute, but was denied by a strong save from Schulze. RWE threw everything forward and were ultimately caught on the break. Timur Gayret made the decision when he had to push the ball into an empty net after a SCV counterattack (89′). RWE keeper Jakob Golz prevented a higher defeat in injury time.

At the end of the English week, RWE has an away game at FC Hansa Rostock (Saturday, October 26, 2 p.m.), while SC Verl welcomes SV Sandhausen (Saturday, October 26, 4:30 p.m.).