Simon Hohenberg, coach of RWE’s U19s, looks back on the match against Schonnebeck and ahead to the next few weeks in the Niederrheinliga.

Rot-Weiss Essen’s U19s maintained their lead at the top of the table in the U19 Lower Rhine League with a 4-1 win against Spvg Schonnebeck U19s.

Coach Simon Hohenberg did not give his team a good performance after the final whistle. However, the youth coach was able to take some positives from the game. His team scored three of their four goals from set pieces. Two from corners and one from a free-kick.

“That’s a focal point that we’ve had extremely in recent months. Those were some of the first set-piece goals we’ve scored this season. We definitely had a negative record. So I’m pleased that we scored three,” Hohenberg summed up after the match.

It was thanks to this newfound strength that the result was so clear at the end of the 90 minutes. A result that was by no means clear-cut against a strong Schonnebeck side. The Essen side were missing a number of regular players. Ahmed Etri, who was still on the bench with the professionals on Saturday, was ill, as was Mehmet Can Demirci. Berkant Gedikli, who only returned from Turkey’s national team the day before the game, was also missing.

But Hohenberg also saw the positives here: “We’re not complaining. Other boys played and showed themselves. We played with seven youngsters in the starting line-up, which is also a big number. We are deeply relaxed.”

After the tough match against Schonnebeck, RWE now face another tough clash against fourth-placed Unterrath (Sunday, February 25, 11 a.m.). In mid-March, they will then face second-placed TSV Meerbusch (Sunday, March 17, 11 a.m.), perhaps with the championship on the line.

However, Hohenberg does not want to look that far ahead: “I don’t see it as being decisive for the season yet. Unterrath was already a tough nut to crack in the first leg and extremely difficult for us to play against. They’re a very unpleasant opponent. Then comes the Lower Rhine Cup, then St. Tönis and then Meerbusch. I’m not that far down the road yet.”

Instead, the 37-year-old wants to focus on the next match and himself: “We’d do well to stay focused, work through the game and put in a few more percentages in the coming week. “