Fortuna Cologne’s 2-1 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach means that the cathedral city team is now unbeaten in 17 games. The coach of the young Foals is annoyed about one incident.

The season could hardly be going better for Fortuna Cologne. Unbeaten since the third matchday and boasting the best offense and defense in the Regionalliga West, the statistics speak for themselves. Fortuna remains unbeaten in its 17th consecutive game, beating Borussia Mönchengladbach’s U23 team 2-1.

Fortuna made its mark early in the game. In the sixth minute, a precise corner from Rafael Garcia found Seymour Fünger, who only had to nod the ball in. Just ten minutes later, Nico Thier made it 2-0, but the comfortable lead did not last long. Nico Vidic scored the equalizer in the 18th minute, and there were no further goals for the rest of the game.

After that, the clash between the two rival cities became increasingly heated. Several scuffles characterized the rest of the first half, with Gladbach’s Joshua Uwakhonye receiving the first yellow card. About a minute later, the young left-back got into a duel with Tom Geerkens, during which the two collided, resulting in a yellow card from referee Kristijan Rajkovski.
“There are things in soccer that you can influence and things that you can’t influence,” summarized Gladbach coach Oliver Kirch. “After looking at the pictures, you have to say that the 1-0 was a clear foul on our goalkeeper, who was tackled in mid-air. The yellow-red card was another key point. The first card was stupid, but the sending-off was completely excessive.”

From Gladbach’s point of view, the criticism from the former Dortmund player is understandable, as these two scenes had a decisive influence on the outcome of the game and both were decided in favor of the home team. However, nothing else happened in the second half, so Fortuna deservedly kept the three points in Cologne.

Despite all the discussion surrounding the two refereeing decisions, Fortuna coach Matthias Mink is extremely satisfied with his team. “The first 20 minutes set the tone. We got off to a good start and were able to consolidate our lead with a 2-0 score. We had some difficulties after the sending-off, but we did more than just okay,” said Mink.

This means that Cologne now have 43 points after 20 games and have managed to pull away slightly from their pursuers. However, appearances can be deceiving, as Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and FC Schalke 04 II still have a game in hand.

But even if the competition does its homework, the league leaders still have at least a three-point lead. For the young Foals, on the other hand, their fourth defeat in five games means that they are out of the promotion race for the time being. Next week sees the top match in the Regionalliga, when Fortuna Cologne visits Oberhausen on Saturday. Mönchengladbach, on the other hand, faces a supposedly easier opponent, hosting SSVg Velbert.