FC Würzburger Kickers starts the remaining season with an away win at SV Meppen. Joker Robert Herrmann brings the red pants with his goal on the winning road.
Not only with one, no, with two goals, substitute Robert Herrmann caused a stir in the 3-1 win of the Würzburg Kickers in the ghost game at SV Meppen. Coach Michael Schiele’s joker stabbed just a few minutes after his substitution, marking his first goals for the red trousers and simultaneously sealing Meppen’s Würzburg curse: the team from Emsland has never won against the Kickers.
“It is a great feeling to score twice after such a long break,” said Herrmann about his premiere double. He left it open whether the Aue loan meant the game-free time due to the Corona virus or his dry spell for the kickers. The goals for SVM coach Christian Neidhart were “absolutely avoidable”, while Schiele was pleased at the virtual press conference that “Herrmann took his chance straight away. I am very pleased for him”.
Schiele trusts familiar staff
The eleven that Michael Schiele sent onto the grass in the Meppener Hänsch Arena came up with just one surprise: Hendrik Hansen started alongside captain Sebastian Schuppan in central defense. Vincent Müller Frank Ronstadt and Leroy Kwadwo had left and right keeper in front of him. To clean up, the coach Dave Gnaase and Patrick Sontheimer ordered the double six.
The usual suspects took care of the offensive: The newly blinded Fabio Kaufmann and Albion Vrenezi took over the outer lanes, Dominic Baumann and Luca Pfeiffer formed a double top in the center. Luke Hemmerich (inner ligament strain), Dominik Meisel (shoulder bruise), Jonas David and Saliou Sanè (both muscular problems) had to pass due to injury.
Sparkling start of the Würzburg kickers
The red pants made it clear from the start that they did not want to start the long journey home from Emsland empty-handed. They controlled the game from behind, were immediately on the feet of the Meppeners when the ball was lost and got away from the kick-off to chances: The crosses from Kaufmann or Kwadwo still found no buyers. The first sign of life of the home side came in the ninth minute: After preparation by ex-kicker Valdet Rama, Deniz Undav pushed the ball into the goal, but referee Eric Müller immediately decided on the offside.
As a result, Meppen had more access to the game, and things got really dangerous for the Würzburg team at first only according to standard situations – but Kickers keeper Müller was on hand for Hassan Amin’s free kick (26th). That’s it until the break whistle with good opportunities, both for the hosts and for the FWK. Crosses, free kicks and corner balls of the red pants were too out of place to really cause danger. The kickers worked in defense except for one or two scenes, offensive both teams still had room for improvement.
Photo: foto2press / Frank Scheuring
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Good luck to the kickers after the break
The Kickers had a lot of power right at the beginning of the second half: At first, Meppens Valdet Rama lacked the fine adjustment when he kicked the ball over the crossbar after Amin’s preparatory work. With the next scene it was really strange: directly in front of Müller’s housing the Kickers did not get the ball cleared, shot themselves twice, Rama hit the crossbar before Hansen thundered the ball out of the danger zone. The SVM owned the initial phase after the change of sides – Christian Neidhart’s team literally constricted the red pants. Only the home side failed to score.
From the 60th minute, the kickers freed themselves from the Meppen clamp grip, initially decelerating the game. Nevertheless, the blue-whites always had their options and showed that their fourth place in the table is no coincidence: Undav, Rama and Amin in particular made a powerful alarm – but had nothing to order against well-defending Würzburgers in this phase.
Joker Herrmann stands out, Pfeiffer prances through the defense
A neat attack was finally enough to undermine the SVM defense and take the lead: Pfeiffer secured the ball to a half right, served Sontheimer – and the clear overview, relied on Robert Herrmann’s substitute for Vrenezi – he only needed it to insert 1: 0 (73.). And just four minutes later, the Kickers followed: Baumann worked hard for Pfeiffer, and the almost two-meter man gracefully danced through the SVM defense and pushed in from an acute angle to 2-0 (77th).
With this double blow, the drops were sucked, SV Meppen was pulled, but the kickers were still up for it: Herrmann laced up his double pack and increased to 3: 0 in the 89th minute. Although referee Müller granted the Emsländer four minutes of added time, they only got the goal: Undav reduced to 1: 3 (90th), but of course he could not end the Kickers curse: The FWK remains against SV Meppen unbeaten.
It remains tight in the table. After the third division Saturday games, the FWK is in sixth place, tied with Waldhof Mannheim on the relegation site. Whether the Kickers will continue to climb will be seen on Tuesday: FC Magdeburg will then come to Dallenberg for a visit.
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