SVWW narrow defeat to Champions in season finale
Pros |
SV Wehen Wiesbaden suffered a 6-0 (3-0) home defeat at the hands of 1. FC Nuremberg on Matchday 32.
SVWW head coach Rüdiger Rehm was unable to call on the services of defensive midfielder Paterson Chato, suspended after seeing two yellows and a red against Kiel. Club captain Sebastian Mrowca replaced him in the starting line-up, slotting in at right-back, with Jeremias Lorch moving over to Chato's place at the base of the midfield.
It was clear from the first kick of the ball that both teams were determined to pick up all three points. Nuremberg were particularly aggressive in the opening stages, always looking to get the ball forward, while SVWW responded with some uncompromising physicality in the tackle. The tension in the stadium was palpable, and the first moment of release came in the 7th minute, when Robin Hack found the back of the net with the visitors' effort on goal.
The Red & Blacks responded well to the early setback. Almost immediately after the Nuremberg goal, Marcel Titsch Riviero had a chance to hit back for SVWW, but he was unable to direct his effort on target. Undeterred, SVWW kept the pressure up. Soon enough, Manuel Schäffler played Stefan Aigner in on goal, but his powerful shot was deflected wide for a corner by Nuremberg goalkeeper Christian Mathenia.
Nuremberg were clearly not content to sit on a one-goal lead and looked to get forward at every opportunity. The Franconians flew into the tackles as they looked to gain the upper-hand through robust physical play. However, it was the home side who would have the next notable goalscoring opportunity. In the 16th minute, Gökhan Gül met a corner with a powerful header, but it ended up flying wide of the Nuremberg goal by the finest of margins.
The encounter was in the balance. The visitors moved the ball around the park with ease, but were unable to thread the all-important final ball. The Red & Blacks, for their part, looked to capitalise on each and every Nuremberg mistake by launching rapid-fire counter-attacks.
Rehm's side were at their most threatening when they looked to play balls into the area from the flanks. In the 23th minute, Schäffler sent a dangerous cross towards the back post. Gül lunged to get on the end of it, but he was just unable to make a connection.
After playing at full throttle in the opening 20 minutes, Nuremberg were unable to keep the tempo up. A shot from the edge of the box by Michael Frey in the 31st minute was their only real sight of goal since taking the lead early on. As things stood, it seemed more likely that SVWW would find an equaliser than FCN would build a two-goal lead.
In the 36th minute, Jeremias Lorch threatened for the Red & Blacks, blasting an effort from 25-metres out just over the bar. Down the other end, Nikola Dovedan teed up Frey, but the Swiss misfired from a good position.
The Franconians soon found a new gear and duly stunned the home side with two goals in quick succession. First, Asger Sörensen scored from a Johannes Geis corner to double the advantage in the 38th minute, then, just three minutes later, Hanno Behrens poked home the rebound after Heinz Lindner had made an exceptional save to deny Hack. It was a major shock to the system just before half-time, and it might well have been even worse. Frey somehow managed to misfire from a mere three metres out after a misplaced pass from Behrens had presented him with a gilt-edged opportunity.
Rehm responded during the interval, bringing Phillip Tietz on to replace Benedikt Röcker and shifting his side into a 4-4-2. Nuremberg remained unchanged, and were happy to sit back and hit the Red & Blacks on the break. The tackles kept flying in and the intensity remained high in the second half. The first notable attack came in the 57th minute: SVWW keeper Lindner made a remarkable double-save to deny Hack from long range and then Dovedans on the follow-up. However, SVWW couldn't depend on the Austrian coming to the rescue from the resulting corner: as was the case for the second goal, Geis stepped up to take it, and once again, he found Sörensen at the back post, who headed home to extend the lead to 4-0.
FCN didn't take their foot off the gas. After winning the ball in the SVWW half, Geis found himself one-on-one with Lindner. He got his head up and played a sideways pass to Hack, who just had to pass the ball into the net to make it 5-0 in the 65th minute. As the game drew to a close, Geis penetrated the SVWW backline with a precise through ball into the path of substitute Adam Zrelak, who took it in his stride and made no mistake with the finish to close the visitors' account in the 83rd minute.
SVWW: Lindner – Mrwoca, Mockenhaupt, Gül, Röcker (Tietz, 46), Schwede – Lorch (Kuhn, 72) – Aigner (Ajani, 72), Titsch Rivero, Kyereh (Niemeyer, 63) – Schäffler.