For right-back Joshua Bitter, MSV Duisburg’s 2-2 draw against Rostock felt like a defeat. After the game, he vented his anger.

MSV Duisburg once again put in a strong performance in Friday evening’s 2-2 draw against Hansa Rostock, underlining once again that it is not without reason that they are unbeaten and top of the 3. Liga table.

Nevertheless, immediately after the final whistle, dissatisfaction spread among the Zebras, who had let two leads slip away. When asked by Magenta whether they could accept the draw, MSV defender Joshua Bitter replied emphatically: “No way!” He added: “If you look at the game over 90 minutes, Rostock had two chances in front of our goal and scored twice. For us, it was definitely not a successful evening.”

The 28-year-old right-back was particularly annoyed about the timing of the first goal. Former Essen player Cedric Harenbrock scored out of the blue to make it 1-1 (45′) just before the half-time whistle.

“It’s the worst possible time to concede a goal,” complained a visibly annoyed Bitter. “We’re dominating the game and leading 1-0. That’s how we should go into the break.” And it was the same story in the second half. First, Tobias Fleckstein put the league leaders back in front (71′), and just five minutes later, it was Harenbrock again (76′) who scored for FC Hansa. Completely unnecessary! We just have to clear the ball from the box, then nothing will happen and we’ll get the home win. So we’re looking at another 2-2 draw at home and have given away two points.”

These are remarkable statements from the defender, which underline how high the newly promoted team’s expectations are after their sensational start to the season. “If someone had told us before the season that we would be where we are now, we would of course have been satisfied,” said Bitter. But if you look at the games, you can’t be satisfied with a 2-2 draw against Rostock. The 0-0 draw in Saarbrücken is okay, but today we simply have to keep the three points in Duisburg. It’s just very, very annoying,” said the Dorsten-born player, who set up Duisburg’s opening goal by Patrick Sussek with a bit of luck.