ETB Schwarz-Weiß Essen lost their home game against VfB 03 Hilden 2-4 (1-2). That’s what Björn Matzel said.
After a win and a draw, Matzel, as interim coach of Schwarz-Weiß, suffered a 2:4 (1:2) defeat against VfB 03 Hilden. The hosts’ defense allowed too many chances at the back and was lucky that Hilden failed to convert many clear opportunities into further goals. ETB will be back in action this Friday when they face a difficult trip to league leaders Ratingen 04/19, coached by former coach Damian Apfeld.
The Black and Whites started the game strongly and had a great chance to take a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute when VfB keeper Yannic Lenze brought down Essen’s Elefterios Theocharis in the penalty area and the hosts were awarded a penalty. Maurice Haar took the penalty, but Lenze guessed the right corner and made a good save.
Seventeen minutes later, the visitors took a 1-0 lead when former ETB player Mohamed Cissé scored with a great shot into the right corner (27′). Fifteen minutes later, Hilden were already 2-0 up when striker Pascal Weber was allowed to slot the ball home unchallenged from four meters out (42′). However, the Black and Whites were able to reduce the deficit to 1-2 just before the half-time whistle. After a pass from Marcello Romano, Youssef Kamboua scored with a direct shot from 17 meters into the left corner (45+1).
In the 67th minute, Hilden restored their two-goal lead: After ETB failed to clear the ball in their own penalty area despite several attempts, Maximilian Wagener was in the right place at the far post and was able to nod the ball in from close range to make it 1-3. However, the home side immediately reduced the deficit to 2-3 and were back in contention for a point. After a pass from Elefterios Theocharis, Youssef Kamboua scored his second goal of the day with a low shot from eight meters into the left corner (69th minute). The Black and Whites tried everything until the end, but were lucky that VfB missed several good scoring opportunities and they could continue to hope for the equalizer. In stoppage time, substitute Luke Kawabe took advantage of a counterattack and scored the final goal of the game to make it 2-4 (90+4).
“The game would have been completely different if we had converted our penalty or taken one of our good chances in the first 20 minutes. We had some good combinations, were aggressive and played really well. Then our game flattened out a bit and Hilden came on stronger. We were rightly behind at half-time. In the second half, we tried everything again, but we always had difficulties defending against Hilden because they have brutal quality up front. We couldn’t get a grip on the game and I had the impression that every Hilden attack was dangerous. You have to be fair in your assessment of the game, and Hilden had the better scoring chances today. If we concede another goal or two, we can’t complain. The difference in quality up front was the deciding factor today,” Matzel summed up.
