SV Elversberg impressively won the direct promotion duel against SC Paderborn in the 2nd Bundesliga and moved past their rivals in the table.
In the 5-1 win in the Arena an der Kaiserlinde, Maximilian Rohr (4th minute), David Mokwa (17th) and Lukas Petkov (28th/41st) made things clear before the break. The SVE showed an impressive performance, especially in the first half. Calvin Brackelmann (65th) was only able to shorten the score for Paderborn, Raif Adam (90th + 3) added for Elversberg.
Thanks to the success, Elversberg now has 59 points in the table, jumping past Paderborn (58) to third place. The SCP slipped to fourth place and also had to let Hannover 96 pass.
Kettemann: “Shitty first half”
Paderborn’s coach Ralf Kettemann explained on the ARD microphone: “It was a shitty first half, we played a very bad first 45 minutes. That was of course a stupid time, that hurts us a lot.”
Elversberg coach Vincent Wagner said: “We all did a good job, were precise and razor-sharp. We had to be that way because Paderborn are a very good team.”
The direct duel for a place in the Bundesliga was about the second promotion place behind Schalke 04. And both teams had recently stumbled. Elversberg had only had one win from the last four games, and Paderborn had also been without a three-pointer twice. It was therefore forbidden for both of them to lose.
Early goal conceded shocks Paderborn
Less than four minutes had been played when the ball fidgeted in the Paderborn goal. At a corner there was a lot going on in the five-man team, the ball came to the near post and was headed backwards by Lukas Petkov – Rohr then stood there and headed it in.
After that it was an open game in which each team looked for the offensive. Elversberg wanted to follow up, Paderborn tried to respond quickly.
Elversberg follows up mercilessly
The hosts did better, as they quickly made it 2-0. Florian Le Joncour hit a long ball to Lasse Günther, who was fouled by Paderborn’s goalkeeper Dennis Seinm, but first passed the ball Mokwa spied. He pushed him into the empty gate.
Paderborn was visibly shocked and Elversberg followed up mercilessly. After winning the ball in midfield, Lukasz Poreba played a sweet pass to Petkov and he remained ice cold in front of the goal.
Even with the 3-0 lead behind them, the SVE remained bilious, didn’t allow themselves any time out and kept the pressure on Paderborn. The guests hardly managed anything anymore. The 4-0 score was inevitable. During a quick counterattack after winning the ball, it was Petkov again who showed no nerves in front of the goal.
Paderborn only managed a consolation goal
Paderborn also found it extremely difficult in the second half. Elversberg skillfully kept the guests away from their own goal and hardly allowed anything. And when the SCP did get through, there was a lack of precision or SVE goalkeeper Nikolas Kristof was in the post.
On the offensive, Elversberg shifted down a gear, which is why the game more or less sputtered along. Until the 65th minute. The Paderborn team managed to score the next goal. And it was worth seeing. Brackelmann volleyed a long free kick and put it past Kristof into the near corner.
And the second goal almost came afterwards. After a set piece, Filip Bilbija was denied by Kristof, who responded brilliantly, from close range, then Kennedy Okpala’s shot from three meters was blocked on the line by Poreba. But it wasn’t enough anymore.
On the contrary: Raif Adam made it 5-1 in added time and Paderborn’s Steffen Tigges had to leave the field with a yellow-red card.
Elversberg in Düsseldorf, Paderborn against Karlsruhe
Elversberg will be a guest at Fortuna Düsseldorf on the next matchday on Sunday afternoon (1:30 p.m.). Paderborn welcomes Karlsruher SC on Friday evening (6.30 p.m.).
