SV Burgaltendorf came back from a 0:3 deficit against RWE II in District League 6. It was a crazy game, for which they almost didn’t get their reward in the end.
The final score was 3:3 after the final whistle in District League 6 in the Lower Rhine region. On Sunday afternoon, there was a real blockbuster duel. SV Burgaltendorf, the league leaders, welcomed Rot-Weiss Essen’s second team. Five points separated the league leaders from RWE, who wanted to keep up with the top teams after two defeats in a row.
The SVB, on the other hand, had won all of their last six league games, making them the strongest team in the league. In contrast to Rot-Weiss’s second team, the hosts had to contend with the double burden. “I think you could tell that we had played a cup game against Niederwenigern during the week, which went into extra time. That made it very exhausting, as the same eleven players took to the field as during the week. So it was all the more pleasing that the morale was so strong,” explained Burgaltendorf coach Andreas Krippel after the game. For a long time, the game seemed evenly balanced, with few real scoring chances. That changed with the first goal by Burak Bahadir (26′) to make it 1-0 for RWE, which steered the game in the visitors’ direction. “After the 1-0, we lost a few unfortunate balls in the back rows, and we weren’t there at all for the second balls, which was completely forgettable. But I fielded young center backs, and if they make a mistake, that’s perfectly fine,” Krippel clarified. The second team’s period of pressure then paid off shortly before the break. First, Ardin Kordi (44′) made it 2-0, then Marcel Platzek made it 3-0 (46′).
“We played a really good first half and were actually on the road to victory. With the score at 1-3, things got a little shaky, but we still seemed to have everything under control. We coped well with the first goal we conceded, but then we struggled to find solutions up front. That would have been helpful in restoring our three-goal lead,” said RWE II coach Stefan Lorenz, describing the decisive phase of the game. Joker Jonas Rölver scored the 1-3 (74th minute) and suddenly the home side’s will was back, with RWE barely recognizable. “Unfortunately, it’s normal in soccer for things to get really shaky in the last five minutes plus stoppage time. But then we have to defend with everything we’ve got. It’s brutal that we weren’t alert after a corner hit the post,” said Lorenz, visibly dejected. The opponents’ comeback was successful: Laurin Kamperhoff scored the first goal (89th minute), then Leon Metke equalized (95th minute). Shortly before the final whistle, RWE could even have scored the winning goal – but it hit the post, and the points were shared, with SV Burgaltendorf getting the lucky punch.
