SV Wallinghausen against Germania Leer (relegated from Landesliga) performed as a powerful unit that celebrated their first victory in the district league with a 2-1 win.

This is the story of how SVW scored an unusual winning goal against Germania Leer and how a technical defect shortly before match end made the fans tremble…

Wallinghausen Football Arena, 8pm, pleasant and sunny 22°C  – In the fourth attempt, SV Wallinghausen achieved its first victory in the East-Friesian football district league. 3 points after four matches played. The 2-1 win against Germania Leer on Wednesday evening was peppered with a few curiosities. The threesome for SVW almost faltered in the final minute due to an incident. After the end of the game at around 10:10 p.m., SVW trainer Ewald Mühlenbrock spoke of “a chest release” that was achieved through “fight and effort”.

Among the almost 300 spectators could be found numerous actual and ex district league coaches. These included Bruno Mönck (TuS Middels), Frank Winkler (TuS Strudden), (Wilfired Böhling (ex-SpVg Aurich and TUS Weene) and Bi Le Tran (SV Großefehn), who wanted to get a feel of the league competitors. They saw a perfect start for Wallinghausen. Jasper Mühlenbrock sent a daisy cutter straight forward in between the last two defenders into the path of striker Lukas Günsel. He took a few more steps and sank the ball into the Germania net with a powerful shot.

That early goal ignited Germania Leer's aggressiveness. With consequences. In the 10th minute, the ball landed in Wallinghausen's goal, however, the referee called it offside. The guests did better after around 15 minutes when SVW defender Tobi Cordes side-slipped and accidentally slowed down the ball just 12m away from goal so that Zion Ayodele could equalize with a well-placed low shot from the right hand side of the penalty area.

After that, there were largely no attacks. The action shifted to midfield. Duels, failed passes and misunderstandings on both sides. There were also fouls and interruptions. A fairly unamusing match under floodlights. The spectators preferred to look at their smartphones and text messages, or they headed to get a drink at the bar.

A sign of life

One or the other missed two opportunities for Wallinghausen in the final phase of the first half. So far Lukas Günsel stood out from the rest of the players sending another shot on goal in min 38. But the ball clearly missed its target. When both sides were up to welcome the break with a draw, Germania goalkeeper Tom-Lukas Bünting made a memorable appearance.

The ball catcher in the red shirt left the 16-meter area several times while his team was attacking. Positioning himself in the middle of his own half, he actively engaged in the affair. When he got a pass played from the center circle, he happened to create a most sloppy pass forward, right at Bent Bogena's feet. The Wallinghausen captain saw the empty goal and sent the ball on its way from good 40m, which was followed by Bünting. Carefully, the ball crossed the line before it could be stopped by the goalkeeper. It was 2:1 in favour of Wallinghausen and the referee blew the whistle for the break.

SVW with punctual initiatives

In the second round, the roles were clearly divided. Leer squeezed and earned a clear plus in the ball possession. However, the players from Leer did not convert them into goals because they either shot inaccurately or the many-legged defense of the home team defused the attacks. Wallinghausen defended skillfully. And during a long rally of substitutions on both sides SV Wallinghausen occasionally started counter-attacks in the direction of the guest’s goal. After a long pause due to injuries and holiday trips specifically midfielder Marvin Dahlke and striker Hauke Monnerjahn were happy to get some exposure again on the field.The SVW was closer to 3:1 than Leer to equalize. And for the surprise of many spectators in the last minutes Frank Löning had his appearance closing the defence line after stopper back Jann Kramer got a bleeding nose injury. So Wallinghausen was getting closer and closer to the first win of the season when it suddenly got dark on the pitch in the final minute. There was a loud click and the floodlights went off. Shortly before, referee Jendrik Janßen had indicated three minutes of extra time when a player from Leer prepared the sixth corner kick. Then darkness flooded the ground and the responsible managers of SVW feared that the game, which they had almost won, would be cancelled and restarted at a new date.

Party in front of the beer booth

But that didn't happen, because after long ten minutes, the floodlights were back in bright light again. Leer took the corner kick. Without consequences for Wallinghausen, and the extra time got counted down till the SV Wallinghausen success got landed home. Cheers on the SVW bench. While some players threw their arms in the air and others hugged each other, head coach Ewald Mühlenbrock and his entourage breathed a sigh of relief.

Mühlenbrock confessed: "That was a difficult game for us. We wanted to decide the game with the duels. We have succeeded. The 2:1 was a fortunate goal. Such luck we did not have in previous games. That's the way it is," he smiled and ran to a player who was already celebrating cheerfully with the fans at the beer booth. A successful end to a peculiar evening.

Written by Wolf-Ruediger Saathoff (ON-Online) with translation FAISPORTS,© Photo: Stephan Friedrichs