In the Niederrheinpokal, 1. FC Bocholt also remained without conceding a goal against SV Sonsbeck. This weekend, the fourth-placed team in the Regionalliga West travels to fifth-placed Oberhausen.
After a 3-0 win over Bezirksligist Rheinland Hamborn in the first round, 1. FC Bocholt also won round two of the Niederrheinpokal without conceding a goal. SV Sonsbeck from the Oberliga Niederrhein won 2:0.
Dietmar Hirsch’s team was warned after Wuppertaler SV was knocked out the day before against Alstaden (3:4 n.V.) and Rot-Weiß Oberhausen also had a hard time with Jüchen-Garzweiler (5:3). “That was great for me as a coach, of course, to sharpen my players’ senses once again. I also brought up the example of Bayern Munich, who played it down super confidently against Preußen Münster, regardless of the line-up.”
With these games in mind, the regional league team played their way to a victory that was close for a long time – the decision only came in the 92nd minute – but thoroughly deserved, as Hirsch summed up. “We just failed a little bit to play more concentrated and compellingly for the second goal. We tried, but missed one or two chances. At the back, we hardly let anything happen.”
Cup conclusion: “Everything went well”.
So the duty has been fulfilled: “For us, it was all about getting through, preferably to nil, without extra time and that nobody got injured. That worked out, so everything went well.”
Things are also going well in the league at the moment. The Bocholt team is in fourth place with 16 points from the first eight games. “I told my boys that we could also go bowling or to the climbing garden, but the best team-building is results. That’s where we laid the foundation in the first game with 5:2 at Schalke, so people believed in what we can do and what we intend to do.”
Only small dents and the deserved bit of luck
Of course, with 18 new arrivals in the summer, not everything is going smoothly yet. “Of course there are also dents in this upheaval, but we have kept them relatively small. We really got hit on the head once in Paderborn, where we weren’t good (0:5, editor’s note). In Cologne, we were perhaps also the one goal worse by which we lost in the end, but we would have liked to take a point there (0:1, ed.).” Otherwise, the coach saw many close games in which his team often earned the necessary bit of luck.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Bocholt team will travel to Oberhausen on Saturday (2 p.m.) one point and one place ahead of RWO. “If you look at the Oberhausen team, you could have said that they are in the top five after eight games, with us that was perhaps rather less the case, but that’s the beauty of football, that you can’t predict results,” explains the ex-professional, who counts RWO as one of the “top three, four teams” in the Regionalliga West.
If you say now that we have nothing to lose, then it’s silly. We have a game to lose.
Dietmar Hirsch
“They’re a savvy squad that, even though they have a few players over 30, are certainly not past their prime. They have hungry players. Moritz Stoppelkamp, for example, wants to show everyone once again in the Ruhr area. You can see that in his results,” praises Hirsch. His somewhat younger team will have to keep up with the experience and the atmosphere in Oberhausen.
Despite the standings, the coach sees his charges in the “role of challengers”, but does not want to start the journey to the Niederrhein stadium merely as a supplier of points. “We have to take with us the self-confidence we have built up with our performances so far. If you say now that we have nothing to lose, then it’s silly. We have a game to lose.”
Hirsch knows that his team will once again have to go to their own performance limits. “Otherwise we have no chance, we saw that in the defeats.” But the 51-year-old hopes his team can use the backdrop to their advantage. “That should spur us on, because we’ve been working towards games like this. That’s why we love the Regionalliga West. “