Surprise in the Regionalliga West: Wuppertaler SV lose at basement dwellers Rot Weiss Ahlen. FC Bocholt remain top of the table after a 0-0 draw.

The 15th matchday of the Regionalliga West already saw five games on Friday evening.

Fortuna Köln turned around a 3-0 half-time deficit against Borussia Mönchengladbach II in spectacular fashion, while SSVg Velbert had to concede victory at the final whistle.

Three more games followed on Saturday. SV Lippstadt and newly promoted FC Wegberg-Beeck were also originally scheduled to meet, but the match at the Liebelt-Arena fell through due to the weather.

Rot Weiss Ahlen and new coach Björn Joppe were reunited with Gaetano Manno, who was a guest with Wuppertaler SV. Before WSV came knocking in April 2023, Manno was at the helm of RWA for two months in the same position

The team from Ahlen started boldly and put Wuppertaler SV under pressure early on, but quickly found themselves behind. Derrick Kyere fouled Lukas Demming in the penalty area and Charlison Benschop converted the resulting spot-kick – 0:1 after 15 minutes

However, the home side only shook themselves briefly and responded immediately: A corner from Luka Tankulic found the head of Ömer Uzun, who nodded in to make it 1:1 (18′). Just two minutes later, Kyere added another corner to give Ahlen the lead. The score was then 2:1 at half-time, with Benschop having to come off injured.

The second half did not bring any improvement at first, with Ahlen having the chance to make it 3:1. And the Joppe team also survived the final onslaught from Wuppertal, who were able to score a few goals in the final phase of the game. It was the second win under the new coach for RWA, who handed the red lantern to SSVg Velbert.

Bocholt stay ahead, RWO lose outnumbered

In the fortress Am Hünting (previously 7 wins from 7 games), the top match between league leaders 1. FC Bocholt and 1. FC Düren was a 0:0 of the better kind. As a result, Bocholt remain top of the table, while Düren moved into fourth place, leaving Wuppertaler SV behind them.

After a first half in which the home side had the slight upper hand, the visitors came out of the locker room better in the second half. However, Bocholt had the best opportunity, investing more from the 65th minute onwards: Marvin Lorch hit the ball against the post (66′). Goals were possible for both sides until the end, but neither team managed to score in the final minutes.

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen were up against a strong U21 side from 1. FC Köln at the Stadion Niederrhein and were unable to score against the new second-placed team in the table despite being outnumbered for a long time. (To the match report)