Energie Cottbus’s soaring continues: The footballers from Lausitz secured a narrow but deserved victory against Kellerkind TSV Havelse and jumped to the top of the 3rd league table, at least overnight.
FC Energie Cottbus won in the 3rd league on Saturday afternoon against second-to-last TSV Havelse. The Lausitzers beat Lower Saxony, who were already behind and threatened with relegation, 4:3 (2:1).
With the win, Energie jumps to first place in the table, at least overnight. On Sunday, MSV Duisburg could take the lead again with a win against Rot-Weiss Essen.
“What’s missing? Knees? Chest?”
Erik Engelhardt is currently the face of Cottbus’ success: six goals in five games, including the last-minute goal in Ulm. In the interview he talks about the reasons for the run, the upcoming opponent – and his next appearance as a singer.more
The course of the game
Havelse got off to a better start in the game. After just two minutes, John Posselt had the first good finish for the outsiders, but Marius Funk in the energy goal saved safely. It was the only chance in the early stages, but overall the guests made a good first impression, while the Lausitzers struggled at the start.
After 20 minutes, Claus-Dieter Wollitz’s team became dangerous for the first time. After a cross from the left, Erik Engelhardt finished in the middle. But he didn’t get enough pressure behind his header, so Tom Opitz was able to simply catch the ball in the Havels goal. Four minutes later, Jannis Boziaris did better: The midfielder appeared free in the penalty area after a through pass from Tolcay Cigerci and scored his second goal of the season to make it 1-0 (24th minute). The hit gave a boost of energy and security.
It didn’t take long until the score was 2-0. Engelhardt took advantage of a serious mistake by TSV defender Florian Riedel after a long ball and increased Cottbus’ lead (34′). Before the break, energy keeper Funk also made a mistake on the other side. After a long ball from Havels, his attempt to clear the ball at the edge of the penalty area failed, so Robin Müller only had to push it into the empty goal (39′). With the narrow 2-1 lead for Cottbus we went into the locker room.
“We deserve to be three points better”
Henry Rorig has become a top performer at Energie Cottbus. In the interview, the right-back talks about his special relationship with the city, the Lausitz team’s strong start to the season and several promotions to the second division.more
Cottbus can’t get any rest in the game and still wins
At the beginning of the second half the game was much more open. It went back and forth, both teams got shots – and energy for the next goal. After a quick counterattack, Boziaris scored his second goal of the day to make it 3-1 (60th). Afterwards, Cottbus struggled to bring calm into the game and failed to take control. The result: Havelse was reconnected. Substitute Lorenzo Paldino brought his team back into the game with a flying header (71′).
The game remained close afterwards because Energie played too hectic and often quickly lost the ball again. That’s why it remained open until the end: After Cigerci only hit the post shortly before the end (86th), he scored the goal in stoppage time to make it 4-2 (90th + 6th). Anyone who thought this goal would be the deciding factor was wrong, because Havelse came back again. Once again it was Paldino who scored the next goal (90+7). However, the guests were unable to equalize and Cottbus achieved a well-deserved victory over time.
Player of the game
Jannis Boziaris is not always in the starting eleven at FC Energie Energie. He has started seven times so far, otherwise he was substituted late or did not play at all. On Saturday it was worth it for Wollitz to include the young Greek in the first team. Boziaris stood out against TSV Havelse not only because of his two goals. The nimble midfielder was repeatedly involved in the Lausitzer’s offensive actions and drove the attacks. If he becomes a little more stable and, above all, shows his good performances more consistently, he will certainly appear in the first eleven more often than he already does.
Cottbus coach Wollitz was happy with the result on Saturday. However, there is less talk about his team’s performance in some phases of the game.
What was going on there?
The Lausitz team’s performance on Saturday wasn’t really dominant. The Wollitz team exploited their chances on offense effectively as usual. The coach will probably want to talk about his team’s defensive performance. Energie lost the ball too often in the forward movement, left Havelse too many spaces and didn’t defend decisively enough. Consequently, the game was more spectacular than it should have been from an energy perspective. TSV kept coming back and was able to gain new hope. This made the football experience better for the neutral spectator, but the energy system certainly wouldn’t have complained about a little less tension in the final phase.
Countable
- Erik Engelhardt scored his seventh goal in the last six games on Saturday
- Energie celebrated its fifth league win in a row on Saturday, and there are even six across all competitions
- 9,688 spectators were “only” in the Friendship Stadium on Saturday
Voices about the game
Claus-Dieter Wollitz (Energie Cottbus): “If you concede three goals at home like that, I don’t feel like a front runner. If you don’t have tension and don’t do your job, something like that happens. (…) We weren’t focused and always only looked forward. Then everyone wants to do their scorer or something. I would have liked us to do it differently.”
Samir Ferchichi (TSV Havelse): “We were the more active team in many phases of the game. We then punished ourselves with simple mistakes. But anyone who scores three goals in Cottbus and still has the chance to score a point at the end deserves a lot of respect. Of course, it also speaks for Cottbus that if they concede three goals, they still score four.”
Broadcast: rbb24 Brandenburg aktuell, October 25, 25, 7:30 p.m
