Third division club Rot-Weiss Essen only just managed to qualify for the Lower Rhine Cup semi-finals – thanks to Thomas Eisfeld.

Thomas Eisfeld is a man of special moments. The midfielder for Rot-Weiss Essen provided further proof of this on Saturday. When Essen’s number ten came on for Torben Müsel in the 82nd minute, the defending champions in the Niederrhein Cup were facing elimination. The fifth-tier club SV Sonsbeck took a 1-0 lead thanks to a quick goal, but Eisfeld turned things around.

First, Lucas Brumme scored in the 87th minute to make it 1-1, and then the 31-year-old struck: after a corner that was headed out, Eisfeld took a heart and hammered the ball into the corner with a right-footed volley. This dream goal secured RWE’s place in the semi-finals in injury time, and a short time later Ramien Safi made the final score 3:1.

The experienced player was understandably relieved during the subsequent interview: “Of course it was a very nice feeling for me. I occasionally hit the ball like that in training, I have quite a good shooting technique. It was extremely important.”

Even though only advancing in the cup counts in the end, the performance of the Essen team was very disappointing for long periods. They only managed to beat the fifth-division team with a strong final spurt, and RWE was behind for a total of 86 minutes. That can’t be the aim. Eisfeld saw it similarly:

“We had a very hard time here. The turning point was Felix Wienand’s save in the final phase. If it’s 2-0, I don’t know if we’ll come back. Respect also to the opponent, they defended really passionately. In the first half, we had problems with the rest defense. We hardly got into depth up front, we were too uptight. We then did a bit better in the end. It was a difficult birth.”

I already said a few weeks ago that my role is clearly defined. I accept it as it is. If I play from the start, then I’m happy to do that. But when I come on, I also give my best. Nothing changes in the way I approach the game.

Thomas Eisfeld.

When asked whether he was surprised that he was only brought on so late in the game, the midfielder replied: “I said a few weeks ago that my role is clearly defined. I accept it as it is. If I play from the start, I’m happy to do that. But when I come on, I also give my best. My approach doesn’t change. I try to push the guys even when I’m not on the pitch.”