Schalke 04 celebrates another victory against Jahn Regensburg – and achieves something that the Royal Blues have not managed for almost a year.

When the final whistle sounded, a lot of pressure was lifted from the players and officials of FC Schalke 04. The Royal Blues celebrated an important victory in the cellar duel against Jahn Regensburg on Sunday.

They were in danger of falling to the bottom of the table, but thanks to the comfortable 2-0 win, the Royal Blues gained a little breathing space. They climbed to 14th place in the 2nd Bundesliga.

“It feels very good,” said goalkeeper Justin Heekeren after the final whistle on Sky. “The whole of Gelsenkirchen, the whole of Schalke, has been longing for this victory.” He said it “doesn’t matter a damn” that the opponent is in last place in the table.

The 23-year-old had a word of praise for the fans. “They’ve had a tough time for weeks. Nevertheless, the stadium has been full every week, and the away section is full too. We’re happy that we were able to give something back to them.” And about “the fact that we can have some rest before the international break with the three points.”

Heekeren was also pleased that he kept a clean sheet, as he did in the 0-0 draw against Ulm a week ago. This was the first time he had managed this in his time at Schalke.

In fact, it has been almost a year since the club from the Ruhr area kept a clean sheet in two consecutive games. The last time this happened was in last December’s wins against Osnabrück (4-0) and Rostock (2-0).

It is true that the harmless Regensburg have hardly challenged the hosts’ defense. That should look quite different after the international break in the away game at Hamburger SV (November 23).

Coach van Wonderen: “I’m very happy with the reaction of the players, the staff, the fans. We had a lot to process. I hope this was the beginning of more.”