Relief at SC Verl: Thanks to the 1:0 against MSV Duisburg, the third division club has left the relegation places for the time being. Here’s what the scorer had to say.

Highlights were few and far between in SC Verl’s 1-0 win over MSV Duisburg. Tobias Knost provided one of the few highlights on this rainy Sunday afternoon. The 22-year-old from Verl kept his cool in the Duisburg penalty area after 57 minutes and scored the only goal of the day from around 15 metres – a more than successful starting debut for the right-back.

“A big compliment to the team, that was really strong from us over 90 minutes,” praised the happy Knost afterwards on Magenta Sport. “We fought hard for that. Recently we dropped important points, but today we won three important ones. I’m happy that I could help the team with my goal.”

Knost had come to Verl from Magdeburg in the summer, but was initially stuck in a holding pattern. First a torn muscle fibre slowed him down, then he was substituted on the last two matchdays. Against Duisburg, the Berlin-born player was finally allowed to start – and delivered. “I was injured, worked on myself and supported the team on the television and from the bench,” said Knost, looking back on the last few weeks. “All the nicer that I could help on the pitch today. “

Also thanks to the defensive man’s goal, the East Westphalians can now look at the table with relief. Verl’s second win of the season pushes them past Rot-Weiss Essen into the non-relegation place 16. RWE can move past again with a win against 1. FC Saarbrücken on Monday.

With a view to the league break next weekend, this would be psychologically important, stressed Knost, whose team plays host to SV Elversberg in a fortnight’ time. “Now we can go into the international break with a good feeling. After that, we want to build on the victory. “