In the North Rhine-Westphalia duel with Rot-Weiss Essen, Viktoria Köln clinched their first win of the year.
Coach Olaf Janßen’s team sat down at the end of the 22nd matchday of the 3rd league 1-0 (0-0) against Essen on Monday evening and thus celebrated the first success after four games without a win. RWE, on the other hand, has been waiting for a win for five games now.
Viktoria had to do without Lars Dietz and Patrick Koronkiewicz, both of whom had been sent off in the 1-1 draw against Wehen Wiesbaden. With the Esseners, Oguzhan Kefkir had to pass at short notice.
Lots of chances but no goals before the break
RWE was the more active team in the early stages, but without being really dangerous in front of the Cologne goal. On the other hand, Viktoria came up with a great chance out of nowhere in the 10th minute through Simon Stehle, who shot over the goal. Shortly thereafter, Niklas May also headed a cross from Mike Wunderlich just over it (12′). After this brief phase of pressure from Cologne, the game was balanced. Essen’s first goal was scored by Isaiah Young with a shot well over the Cologne box (20′).
On the other side, Wunderlich got a shot from a tight angle and shot RWE goalkeeper Jakob Golz in the arms (21′). In the following minutes it went back and forth with opportunities for both sides. Stehle for Cologne (27th) and Felix Götze for RWE (28th) could not accommodate the ball in the goal. Above all, Viktoria despaired of RWE defender José-Enrique Rios-Alonso, who sent one Cologne cross after the other out of his own penalty area. So it remained goalless at the break.
Whimsical meets, Young flies
The second round began with a pyro show in the Essen block, which will bring RWE hefty fines again. On the other hand, Viktoria lit the first fireworks after the break. After a strong solo, Robin Meißner was initially denied by Golz, but then Wunderlich scored in the follow-up shot to give Cologne the lead (50th). In search of a quick answer, Felix Herzenbruch tried a flick from 18 meters, which Voll parried (53′).
RWE coach Christoph Dabrowski reacted and replaced defensive midfielder Clemens Fandrich with Lawrence Ennali. However, the Essen offensive decimated itself shortly afterwards when Young had to leave the field with yellow-red (68th) and therefore had to take a break next weekend, as did Ennali, who saw his fifth yellow card (75th).
Meißner could have decided the game shortly afterwards, but failed to counterattack against Golz (79′). Just seconds later, the RWE keeper prevented a header goal from Christoph Greger with a brilliant move (80′). Viktoria was closer to 2-0 in the closing stages than Essen was to the equaliser. RWE was only able to manage a header from Ennali into Voll’s arms on the offensive (84′). However, Cologne also missed numerous good attacking chances, but were not punished for this negligence.
Essen before derby against Dortmund
Next Sunday, RWE will continue with a derby. Then Borussia Dortmund II will be guests on Hafenstrasse (2 p.m.). The Viktoria competes at Dynamo Dresden the day before.
