After two significant defeats and a lot of unrest in the club, Rot-Weiss Essen returned with an away win in the Ruhr derby against Borussia Dortmund II.
RWE won 2-1 (1-0) on Friday evening in front of 17,093 spectators in Dortmund’s Signal-Iduna-Park and is now one point behind BVB in eighth place in the table. Essen had previously suffered clear defeats against Unterhaching (0:4) and Verl (0:5).
BVB started with two changes in the starting eleven compared to the 2-2 draw at Arminia Bielefeld last weekend: Guille Bueno and Rodney Elongo-Yombo replaced Samuel Bamba and Hendry Blank. At RWE, new captain Vinko Sapina, Leonardo Vonic, Eric Voufack and Mustafa Kourouma were added to the starting line-up. Voufack replaced the released previous captain Felix Bastians in the back four.
Lotka’s own goal puts Essen in the lead
Dortmund, who had been unbeaten in five games, were the more active team in the early stages, but did not create any scoring chances. After ten minutes, the Essen team also got into the game and kept the game even. However, it took almost 15 minutes for the first good opportunity when Justin Butler narrowly missed the goal from close range and was injured in the process. RWE was therefore able to have the advantage for a few minutes and got a shot through Torben Müsel (19′) that went over the goal.
Franz Roggow came into the game shortly afterwards to replace the injured Butler (20th). Shortly after his substitution, he scored a good finish, which Jakob Golz defused (22′). But RWE also continued to play forward. Leonardo Vonic was denied by Marcel Lotka in the Dortmund goal in the 25th minute. Kourouma did better, jumping higher than his opponents at an Essen corner and heading it onto the bottom edge of the crossbar. From there the ball bounced to Lotka’s back and then into the goal (30th). Much to the delight of over 7,000 visiting fans.
BVB tried to score an equalizer and almost scored it with a header from Falko Michel, but Golz was there with a strong save (39′). But RWE also remained dangerous, Rios-Alonso almost made it 2-0 shortly before the break (45th + 1).
Müsel responds to controversial penalty
The second half began with an extensive pyro show from the Essen team, which resulted in a short interruption in the game due to the heavy smoke. Afterwards there were fireworks on the field, which began with a controversial penalty that was awarded to BVB (55th). After an alleged foul by Kourouma on Julian Hettwer, Michel scored the equalizer from the penalty spot (57th).
But RWE’s response didn’t take long to arrive. Lucas Brumme’s cross was headed in unchallenged by Müsel to give Essen the lead again (58′). Shortly afterwards, BVB should have received another penalty, but when Voufack kicked Guille Bueno, referee Dr. Riem Hussein but silent (60th). It continued in quick succession. Elongo-Yombo should have equalized for Dortmund with a header, but he didn’t hit the ball properly (64′). Substitute Bamba missed the second post of the RWE box with a curling shot (69′).
Opportunities on both sides
On the other hand, Vonic should have decided the game for Essen, but was denied by Lotka in front of the goal (71′). But Dortmund also remained negligent when it came to scoring chances. Bjarne Pudel’s header from a free-kick cross landed in the hands of Golz (77′), on the other hand Cedrick Harenbrock’s shot was no problem for Lotka (77′). Hettwer also tried from a distance, but Golz was there too (79′).
The pressure on both goals remained high in the final phase. First Sapina missed with a header for RWE (84th), then Bamba for BVB (84th). Dortmund were unable to create any further chances until the final whistle, which is why RWE held on to a narrow victory.
