Shortly thereafter, it got loud in the Schalke Arena – the roof was closed due to a storm warning – when a free kick gave the Royal Blues the lead. Thomas Ouwejan hit the ball on the near post, where Marius Bülter Paderborn’s keeper Jannik Huth didn’t give a chance from close range (22nd minute).
Paderborn is getting stronger, but remains harmless
After taking the lead, Paderborn initially remained harmless on the offensive, but were at least able to prevent worse things from happening in front of their own goal. The East Westphalians gave a tentative indication of their strength away from home in the 38th minute when Julian Justvan shot just wide of the Schalke goal.
In the final phase of the first half, the guests got stronger, while Schalke let the reins slip a bit. S04 keeper Martin Fraisl didn’t have to survive any really tricky situations.
Three aluminum hits in quick succession
After the break, it was initially cautious. In the 56th minute, Philipp Klement had a clear shot for the East Westphalia team, who were now under pressure, but missed the goal.
After that, the goal approaches of both teams clearly improved in quality. It was now very aluminum-heavy. First Darko Churlinov missed the big chance to make it 2-0 after a pass from Ouwejan. Completely free-standing, he failed at the post (62nd).
In return, the gate linkage prevented the equalizer on the other side. When Dennis Srbeny shot, keeper Fraisl still had his fingers on the ball before the post saved (63′). The pace stayed high and the post was an important part of the game. In the 66th minute, SCP keeper Huth directed a Terodde header against the inside of the post and Klement then cleared the line (66′).
Churlinov decides the game with a counterattack
Schalke now led 2-1 after aluminum hits and continued the game 1-0 – not a reassuring lead given the back and forth on the pitch. Thanks to Churlinov, however, the Royal Blues were able to avoid a nerve-wracking final offensive by Paderborn. He used one of the available counterattacks after a pass from Flick to make it 2-0 (74th).
This ended Paderborn’s away series with the first defeat in their eleventh away game, while Schalke put the top quartet in the second division under pressure with this win.