Newly promoted Rot-Weiss Essen scored their first point in the 3rd soccer league with a brilliant comeback in the Ruhrpott derby at MSV Duisburg. With a double strike, the guests made it 2:2 (0:1) from a deficit of 0:2 in the atmospheric first league duel between the neighbors since 2007.
Marvin Bakalorz gave the Zebras the lead in the sixth minute. Moritz Stoppelkamp increased to 2:0 (52nd) after an exemplary counterattack. But substitute Simon Engelmann (67th) and Lawrence Ennali (71st) equalized.
Of the 28,200 spectators in the sold-out stadium, 5,000 fans came from Essen. The police were in action with a massive contingent. But it remained largely peaceful.
Newly promoted Essen, who started the season with a 5-1 loss against SV Elversberg, traveled to Sweden for a few days for team building. The Zebras, also under pressure after the 0-1 draw at VfL Osnabrück, went on the offensive from the start – and were rewarded early on: Bakalorz scored a header after a corner kick from Moritz Stoppelkamp to make it 1-0.
RWE set a first exclamation point with a crossbar shot by Daniel Heber (17th). But Duisburg continued to dominate the game and looked like the sure winner after an hour. Essen, however, still had an answer ready.