On the 21st match day of the 3rd division, SV Waldhof Mannheim missed their fourth win in a row and scored a point against SC Verl. Due to the draw, the Mannheimers keep in touch with the promotion places.
After three wins in a row, SV Waldhof Mannheim played 1-1 (1-1) against SC Verl. In front of around 9,300 spectators in Mannheim’s Carl-Benz-Stadion, the guests from Verl took the lead through Vinko Sapina (12′), Dominik Martinovic equalized shortly before half-time (43′). In the second half, the Waldhöfer failed to score despite their superiority in play. Due to the draw, Mannheim remains in fifth place in the table.
Waldhof Mannheim falls behind early on
Waldhof coach Christian Neidhart changed his team compared to 4:1 success at Viktoria Cologne in one position: Marten Winkler, who was injured recently, replaced newcomer Thomas Pledl in the starting line-up.
The game started off slowly and Mannheim initially let Verl have the ball. The guests looked for gaps while the Waldhof waited to win the ball. After twelve minutes, Verl came dangerously close to the goal for the first time and took advantage of the first opportunity: After a throw-in, Sapina simply took aim from 20 meters on the left and Waldhof keeper Jan-Christoph Bartels was only able to parry the central attempt forward . There, Oliver Batista-Meier reacted the quickest and headed in from six yards into the bottom left corner to give Verl a 1-0 lead.
Martinovic scores to equalize
Only after a good quarter of an hour did the hosts get into the game better and Fridolin Wagner grabbed the ball after a poor pass from Verl goalkeeper Niclas Thiede. But Wagner was able to deflect Wagner’s long-range shot over the crossbar (19′). The following corner brought no danger.
The hosts then increased the pressure and Martinovic rewarded his team with an equalizer shortly before the break: Winkler made a good comeback on the right flank and served Martinovic, who scored from eleven meters to make it 1-1 (43′).
Mannheim comes out of the break with a lot of offensive pressure
At half-time, Waldhof coach Neidhart obviously found the right words, because his team came out unchanged in terms of personnel, but with a lot of offensive pressure from the break. In the 47th minute, Mannheim had a direct chance to take the lead, but Martinovic’s low shot, again after a pass from Winkler, hit the target too centrally.
The promotion aspirant now got into the duels much better and played forward with much more creativity than in the first half. SC Verl didn’t get a chance at all – until the 65th minute, when Mannheim’s Laurent Jans almost scored an own goal after a through ball. Despite the moment of shock, the hosts were clearly superior and created numerous good chances. But the winning goal didn’t want to come: In the 69th minute, Pascal Sohm failed from close range at keeper Thiede.
Waldhof will play Aue on Friday
In the final phase, Neidhart tried again with new offensive power with Daniel Keita-Ruel and Berkan Taz. But it remained at 1:1 and fifth place for Mannheim, Verl is eleventh. The Waldhof will continue on Friday (7 p.m.). Then the Kurpfälzer play at Erzgebirge Aue, Verl welcomes Dynamo Dresden on Saturday (2 p.m.).
