In the 2nd round of the Niederrheinpokal, the big surprise was in the air for a long time. 1st FC Monheim led until well into the closing stages. Then RWO turned up the heat.
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen made it into the quarterfinals of the Lower Rhine Cup by the skin of its teeth. Against Landesligist 1. FC Monheim, an early 0:2 deficit was turned into a 4:2 victory late on. RWO scored the four goals in the final ten minutes to advance.
In the process, 1. FC Monheim deprived itself of a well-deserved reward. The team played well over 90 minutes and showed a great performance. Coach Dennis Ruess was enormously disappointed after the final whistle: “It’s bitter for us. We make a great game and there is no return at all. That’s the worst thing that can happen. I feel sorry for the guys. But I already factored out the game beforehand, it was a bonus game. Nevertheless, we almost continued our way.”
Afterwards, the long-time Monheim coach was particularly critical of the reaction of the visiting team: “It’s crass for me that a team lets itself be celebrated like that. They play two classes higher and professionally. We played 48 hours ago. RWO announces beforehand in the press that they are playing with full band. And in the end, I have to say, if it’s 3-0 after eleven minutes, no one can complain. I say the better team didn’t win in the end.”
And the referee, Jonah Besong, who did not have an easy job to do as there were many tricky decisions to make, also earned criticism from the underdog coach after the final whistle: “I appreciate the referee, but the fifty-fifty decisions went against us. We have to get a clear penalty and also otherwise it was decided for the big rather than the small. I wasn’t happy with the performance. “
While the disappointment of the Monheimers could hardly be put into words, a more than relieved Jörn Nowak was happy on the other side: “Based on the course of the game, it is certainly very, very happy. I think it’s really good that the guys stayed calm. We had a few chances to tie the game up in the first half. As the game went on, we developed more pressure. I said we always have to keep at it. We succeeded in doing that. The fact that we still turn it around in regulation time is all the nicer.”
But Nowak also appreciates the opponent after this spectacular cup evening: “I said it before the game. You just have to look at the team. There’s quality in there. We don’t need to talk about Oberliga with some of the guys, they can also play in the Regionalliga. They caught us cold and that can’t happen to us. We can’t start the game so naively. “
There’s also a certain quality in scoring four goals so late on.
Moritz Stoppelkamp
Times got back into the game Oberhausen’s top player Moritz Stoppelkamp. The playmaker heralded the turnaround with a wonderful free kick goal in the 85th minute of play. Afterwards, Stoppelkamp summed up: “The opponent didn’t do badly and we slept twice. As a result, we conceded the same goal twice and were lucky not to get the third as well. But we already have many opportunities to turn the game around. Then we came back late through my standard. That’s also a certain quality, to score four goals so late.”
Things continue for RWO this weekend in a home match against FC Schalke 04’s U23 (Sunday, October 29, 2 p.m.). Monheim will face VSF Amern in the Landesliga (Sunday, October 29, 3 p.m.).