SV Elversberg has awarded the first match point for its historic promotion to the Bundesliga.
The second-place team lost 1:3 (0:2) to relegation candidate Fortuna Düsseldorf on the penultimate matchday of the 2nd league and did not use the competition’s assists. If they had won, the village club from Saarland would practically have been able to make it into the upper house for the first time.
However, the SVE still has it in its own hands: A win next Sunday (3:30 p.m./Sky) at home against bottom team Preußen Münster would most likely be enough for promotion due to the significantly better goal difference. The pursuers had previously dropped points – SC Paderborn on Friday in a 2-2 draw against Karlsruher SC, Hannover 96 on Saturday in a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum.
But Elversberg did not take advantage of the opportunity in front of 3,000 traveling fans. An own goal from Le Joncour (26th) and goals from Cedric Itten (44th/51st) postponed the decision as to who will follow second division champions Schalke 04 directly into the Bundesliga. Tim Oberdorf’s own goal (90th + 1) didn’t help the guests anymore. Düsseldorf, on the other hand, scored big points in the relegation battle.
The hosts initially had more of the game. But they couldn’t do much with possession of the ball; a shot attempt by Emmanuel Iyoha was the only finish for a long time (16′). Elversberg took a wait-and-see approach, limiting himself to not falling behind. That failed completely: After a cross from Marin Ljubicic, Le Joncour directed the ball to the leg of goalkeeper Nicolas Kristof, from where it jumped into his own goal.
The hit had a short impact, then the guests became more active. Fortuna keeper Florian Kastenmeier fended off a header from David Mokwa from a suspected offside position with a flying save (31′). Otherwise, the Düsseldorf team blocked all shot attempts – and countered successfully: Itten headed a cross from Shinta Appelkamp to make it 2-0. After the break it continued in a similar way: Fortuna took advantage of another counterattack by Itten. Kristof slipped while running out – as did many of his teammates throughout the game.
