SSVg Velbert scored a decisive victory on the 20th match day of the Regionalliga West. Coach Dimitrios Pappas’ team defeated FC Gütersloh 2-1.
SSVg Velbert, bottom of the Regionalliga West table, had something to cheer about again on matchday 20 after eight league games without a win: Velbert celebrated a 2-1 away win at FC Gütersloh, securing their first three points since September. Cellou Diallo scored both goals for Velbert (7th, 22nd), Kevin Freiberger scored for FCG (43rd).
Velbert’s success was helped by the early sending-off of Gütersloh midfielder Allan Firmino Dantas, who was shown a red card after just six minutes for a professional foul. “We’ve had enough of getting beaten this season, we worked hard for the win against Gütersloh,” said Velbert coach Dimitrios Pappas, visibly relieved, at the post-match press conference.
“We knew that Gütersloh play a lot out from the back, so we trained intensively on pressing. We were able to put that into practice straight away with the ball win that led to the red card and converted the free kick to make it 1-0. We were also able to follow up immediately with the 2-0,” said Pappas, praising his team.
After the SSVg remained unfazed by the equalizer, the bottom-of-the-table team secured three points in the battle to avoid relegation. “In the end, we deserved to win and it was a very important victory for us to get off to a good start in the second half of the season,” said the 43-year-old.
Normally, I’m a coach who always protects his team. But I find it very difficult to accept this action.
Julian Hesse
FC Gütersloh suffered another defeat after a disappointing start to the second half of the season against SC Paderborn’s U23 team (1-3). Julian Hesse, coach of the East Westphalia team, was particularly angry about the red card and criticized his team for it: “I’m usually a coach who always protects his team. But I find it very difficult to accept that action,“ said Hesse, referring to Allan Firmino Dantas’ sending off.
”We talked all week about not wanting to build up play from the back because the pitch is so difficult to play on. We said 50 times that we wanted to build up play with long balls to gain confidence. So I can’t understand how we played flat in the first move. In the end, it killed the game,” said the FCG coach, criticizing the poor implementation of his idea.
FC Gütersloh remains in tenth place in the table but could still be overtaken by SC Paderborn II. Both Velbert and Gütersloh have a busy week ahead. While the Hesse team plays SC Wiedenbrück in the East Westphalia derby (February 6, 7:30 p.m.), the Bergisch team will host Rot-Weiß Oberhausen at the same time.