Lotte loses top match – Baumberg remains confident

The league leaders were in action in both Oberliga divisions on Friday evening. While things are getting exciting in Westphalia, Baumberg remained confident in the Lower Rhine region.

The onset of winter in North Rhine-Westphalia has also led to a number of cancellations in the Oberliga divisions (see overview). On Friday evening (December 1), two matches were still scheduled, one in Westphalia and one in the Lower Rhine region.

The Oberliga Westfalen featured a real top-of-the-table clash: league leaders VfL Sportfreunde Lotte hosted third-placed SV Schermbeck. Six points separated the two sides going into the game. And after a thrilling encounter, the visitors can consider themselves the winners of the day, with Schermbeck winning 3-2 (2-1) after 90 minutes.

At the start of the game, it looked as if the leaders were on course for their fourth win in a row. In the 24th minute, Yassin Ibrahim put Sportfreunde ahead after a Schermbeck corner and the ensuing counterattack. SVS turned the game around through Hendrik Christian Löbler (30th minute) and Timur Karagülmez (42nd minute) to take a 2-1 lead at halftime.

In the 78th minute, the game was wide open again: Halil Can Dogan equalized and brought the Lotter back into the game. Nevertheless, the visitors secured the victory. In the end, Miles Grumann’s goal in the 85th minute rewarded SVS for their efforts with three points.

Leaders do their homework

In the Oberliga Niederrhein, the league leaders fared much better and were able to celebrate a clear home victory in the end. Sportfreunde Baumberg beat tenth-placed Union Nettetal 3-0 (1-0) and continue to march ahead.

Enes Topal (32′) put Baumberger on the road to victory in the first half. A yellow-red card against the visitors (70′) finally broke Nettetal’s back, and in just a few minutes Subaru Nishimura (71′) and Baris Sarikaya (74′) sealed the deal.

Sportfreunde Baumberg now have an eight-point lead over Germania Ratingen, who are one game behind, and will host Sportfreunde Hamborn on Sunday (December 3, 3 p.m.) as scheduled.