Third division side Rot-Weiss Essen celebrated their fourth home win in a row against SC Freiburg II (4:3). Two key players were missing.

After the defeat at Preußen Münster (1:2), Christoph Dabrowski, head coach of Rot-Weiss Essen, demanded a significant improvement in performance from his team in the home match against SC Freiburg II:

“For us, it’s about making meters after the last game. We have to get to a different level of energy and put in a passionate performance.”

No sooner said than done: RWE defeated the SCF’s second team 4:3 in a crazy game and regained fourth place in the table. “Making meters”, “different energy level” and “passion” – RWE displayed all of these attributes for long stretches on this Saturday afternoon at Hafenstrasse. Even after the double strike shortly before the break and Freiburg’s third goal after the break, the team managed to turn the game around completely in the final phase with a great deal of mentality.

Rather, it was the poor exploitation of chances and a careless defensive display that almost cost RWE a home win or even a point. Essen can and must improve in that respect. “We defended too naively. But the belief was there to turn it around. That’s why pride prevails. But we still have to put our finger in the wound,” explained Dabrowski afterwards.

The fact that two important defensive pillars, Felix Götze (flu) and captain Vinko Sapina (knee problems), were missing against Freiburg II was, of course, also part of the truth.

Felix Götze started running again today and will train normally tomorrow. I assume that he will be available again on Tuesday. Vinko tried it in the final training session, but still had slight problems. We didn’t want to take any risks with regard to the English week. However, he also trained individually again today. We’re trying to do everything we can to get him back on the pitch on Tuesday.

Christoph Dabrowski

It remains to be seen whether the two key players will be back for the upcoming away game at 1860 Munich (February 6, 7 p.m.). However, Dabrowski was optimistic when asked by RS after the final whistle, as was Björn Rother:

“Felix Götze has started running again today and will train normally tomorrow. I assume that he will be available again on Tuesday. Vinko tried it in the final training session, but still had slight problems. We didn’t want to take any risks with regard to the English week. However, he also trained individually again today. We’re trying to do everything we can to get him back on the pitch on Tuesday. Björn Rother (ill, editor’s note) will also train again tomorrow. He has been running for the last two days. “