SpVgg Greuther Fürth remains in the 2nd Bundesliga. The “Kleeblatt” won the relegation second leg against third division club Rot-Weiss Essen 2-0 – also because RWE missed a lot of opportunities.
In front of 16,126 spectators at the Ronhof sports park, Noel Futkeu (29th) and Branimir Hrgota (47th) scored for the Fürth team. The Essen team won the first leg at home 1-0. But that wasn’t enough for coach Uwe Koschinat’s team in the second leg.
Since 1997, the Fürth team – apart from two one-year trips to the Bundesliga – have played in the lower house of football and even lead the “all-time table” of the 2nd Bundesliga. Coach Heiko Vogel’s team can expand this in the coming year. The Essen team, on the other hand, has to wait for a return to league two. They last played there in 2007.
Opportunities on both sides
From the start, both teams looked for their chances. Fürth’s Sayf Ltaief had the first after six minutes when he went up and down the left side, but his shot just missed the goal.
But then Essen almost took the lead. Gianluca Swajkowski suddenly appeared free in front of the Fürth goal after a long throw-in, but was denied by goalkeeper Silas Scheckrock. Shortly afterwards he had to defuse a shot from Torben Müsel, which he was just able to direct over the goal. On the other side, the ball hit the crossbar when Fürth’s Jannik Dehm slipped a cross.
Afterwards it was a game with an open mind. During an Essen counterattack, Müsel Ramien played Safi free, but his shot was blocked at the last moment by Jan Elvedi.
Futkeu puts Fürth in the lead, Essen’s goal is offside
Then the Fürths struck. The ball came to Futkeu in the penalty area via Branimir Hrgota and Felix Klaus, who then struck ice-cold with a dry finish – the 1-0.
The SpVgg wanted to follow up. The Essen defense and goalkeeper Jakob Golz then had to survive one or two precarious situations – first against Klaus and then against Sacha Bansé. The goalkeeper made strong saves twice. RWE was again unlucky when a goal from Kaito Mizuta was disallowed due to a narrow offside position. We went into the break 1-0 and Fürth had equalized the deficit from the first leg.
Hrgota increased for Fürth after the restart
Whatever Essen had planned during the break, it was gone shortly after the restart. In his last game for Fürth, Hrgota got the ball on the right corner of the penalty area and then flicked the ball into the far corner with his left foot – a very nice goal.
Fürth pressed for the decision, Essen countered and had the chance to equalize, but Michael Kostka was denied by Scheckrock in front of the goal and missed the second huge opportunity for his team.
A lot of work for Essen goalkeeper Golz
The game remained wild and refused to calm down. Again Hrgota shot from the corner of the penalty area, but this time Golz was on the post and he also parried Futkeu’s follow-up shot, thus thwarting Fürth’s double chance.
Offside again: Essen’s second goal doesn’t count either
But Fürth’s lead was fragile; a goal from Essen would have meant extra time. As a result, RWE took more and more risks and almost got their reward in the 68th minute. But Jaka Cuber Potocnik was again just offside when he scored.
Testrock becomes a Fürth hero
This was despairing for the Essenes and they were running out of time. But they didn’t give up. In the 81st minute, Dickson Abiama headed the ball onto the post, Müsel headed the rebound into the empty goal, but then Pruerock flew up and grabbed the ball – a huge feat by the goalkeeper. The remaining minutes became a defensive battle for Fürth, but they managed to maintain their lead in the hectic final phase.
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