The OFC lost 1-0 in Ulm. Nevertheless, coach Ristic takes a lot of positive things with him. The Kickers are frustrated with Fetsch’s unrecognized goal.
Offenbach – The last league game of the year in the Southwest Football Regionalliga ended with a bitter disappointment for Kickers Offenbach. Despite an outstanding second half and a highly dramatic final phase in which an alleged goal was not counted, the team of coach Sreto Ristic went in the end at the “winter champion” SSV Ulm 1846 with 0: 1 (0: 1) as a loser. With two points behind Ulm and FSV Mainz 05 II (46 points each), OFC hibernates in third place, but has everything in their own hands with one game less.
OFC: Strong second half against Ulm
In the sixth minute of stoppage time, the Kickers seemed to have rewarded themselves for their strong performance in the second half. A long ball from Ronny Marcos was extended to Mathias Fetsch with his head. The Joker twisted the ball past the strong Ulm goalkeeper Christian Ortag. But Michael Heilig pushed the ball out. In front of or behind the line? Even in the Ulm “spatzentv” the matter seemed clear to the moderators: goal. But referee Justin Joel Hasmann (Wiebelskirchen) saw it differently. Shortly afterwards, when the Ulm team also scratched the headball of the advanced kickers keeper Stephan Flauder from the line, a game was over that the OFC certainly didn’t have to lose.
In front of or behind the line? Mathias Fetsch (left) had put the ball past Ulm’s goalkeeper Christian Ortag in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Michael Heilig (right) maneuvered the ball away. “A gate was stolen from us,” said OFC managing director Thomas Sobotzik.
© Jan Huebner
–
“A bitter day for us,” said Kickers trainer Sreto Ristic: “Ulm cleared twice on and once behind the line, the referee should have seen that. It’s a shame, but we have to accept that. “
OFC against Ulm: Very intense game
The drama in stoppage time was the climax of an intense game in which Ulm clearly ran out of steam after an English week at the latest in the second half. “The week has left its mark,” said Ulm’s coach Thomas Wörle, explaining the fact that after a balanced first half his team only defended the lead they had achieved and brought it to the finish with a lot of fuss.
In the 40th minute, Ulm’s right wing player Jannik Rochelt claimed a long ball against Jayson Breitenbach and Ronny Marcos in the penalty area and lifted the ball into the goal over the falling Flauder. “An avoidable goal,” said Ristic: “Everyone relied on everyone else.” Ultimately, the decisive mistake was probably with Flauder, who came out on a difficult-to-play surface, but didn’t get the ball.
The Kickers tried in the first half with a lot of ball control and cautious offensive urge to keep the Ulm Umschaltspiel in check. That succeeded – up to the annoying goal. The catch: Except for the shot from Dejan Bozic from close range after a corner from Rafael Garcia (45th), which Ortag parried on the line, the OFC had booked little compelling.
Kickers increase the pressure – in the end it was bad luck
That changed in round two, in which the Kickers put on a power play and already had the big double chance to equalize in the 51st minute: Serkan Firat shot after Garcia’s cross from four meters to the lower edge of the bar, Dejan Bozic headed the rebound towards the left corner, where Ulm’s Best Ortag was back. Because Offenbach constantly increased the pressure, there were always standard situations that conjured up danger. “We had a bit of luck in one or the other situation,” admitted the former OFC professional Wörle. “It was a real top game,” stated Ristic and took a lot of positive things into the winter break, especially from the second half. “We played very well in the second half, it was just bad luck in the end.”
Now it is important to regenerate a few days, to clear your head for a second half of the season, in which the OFC will play for the title in the shape of the last two and a half months, in which it scored 30 points from twelve games. “The table shows a clear tendency,” says Ristic: “Whoever is at the top is right there.” He and his coaching colleague agreed that the league was “brutally difficult and nothing to be taken for granted”. That promises high tension in the remaining 15 match days – and possibly a dramatic finale on May 14th, when the OFC meets FSV Frankfurt. (Jörg Moll)
List of rubric lists: © Hübner
–
