SVWW narrow defeat to Champions in season finale
Pros |
SV Wehen Wiesbaden and Greuther Fürth shared the spoils on Matchday 23 of the Bundesliga 2 season. The 3,961 fans at the BRITA-Arena witnessed an even encounter in which Daniel-Kofi Kyereh put the home side ahead in the 18th minute, before Havard Nielsen levelled for the visitors four minutes after the restart.
SVWW coach Rüdiger Rehm made one change to the starting XI that lost to Regensburg last time out, giving the fit-again Stefan Aigner the nod over Sidney Friede.
Both teams made a hesitant start and initially tried to make sure they kept things tight at the back. Forays forward remained few and far between, and it was not until the 14th minute of the match that the Fürth box came under attack for the first time. Tobias Schwede won the ball back 30 metres from the opposition goal and played a ball down the flank to Maximilian Dittgen, who picked out Manuel Schäffler with a cross into the middle. But the Franconians were on their guard and a defender headed it behind at the last second.
The Fürth rearguard was powerless to keep out the chance that came five minutes later, however. Schäffler flicked a long diagonal ball into the path of Aigner, who spotted Daniel Kofi-Kyereh amidst a sea of green and delivered an exquisite cross towards the 23-year-old, who duly headed home to round off a lovely move and put the hosts ahead.
In the aftermath of the opening goal, Fürth enjoyed several passages of possession – albeit without posing much of a threat in the final third. The SVWW back line looked stable and restricted the visitors to nothing more than shots from distance.
Now a goal to the good, the Red & Blacks had the momentum on their side. SVWW were more alert and livelier than the Green & Whites, whom they placed under constant pressure. Schwede got the better of several Fürth players with a brilliant solo run before playing in Kyereh, who ran onto the through-ball but fired wide of the visitors' goal (24). Three minutes later, Clover Leaves custodian Sascha Burchert made a comfortable save to keep out a header from defender Benedikt Röcker following a Kyereh corner.
But as the first half wore on, the Franconians gradually began to show why they are regarded as one of the best footballing sides in the Bundesliga 2. The Green & Whites dictated proceedings with long spells of possession, while Rehm's charges saw less and less of the ball and were restricted to counter-attacks. But Fürth rarely threatened despite their slick passing and, with SVWW also lacking sharpness in front of goal, the score remained 1-0 until the half-time whistle sounded.
Rehm's charges initially looked good after the restart. Kyereh countered at lightning pace when SGF defender Paul Jaeckel allowed the ball to run through. The German-Ghanaian passed into the centre, where Nunoo Sarpei's attempted clearance struck Dittgen. But the rebound sailed narrowly wide of Burchert's goal in the 47th minute.
However, Fürth showed an immediate response and played with more purpose in the first few minutes of the second half than they had in the entirety of the first period. Paul Seguin played a through-ball to Havard Nielsen, who held off two SVWW defenders in the box and put the ball past Heinz Lindner to make it 1-1 (49).
By this point, the Clover Leaves were enjoying much more offensive momentum. In the 54th minute, Sebastian Ernst fired wide from close range after latching onto Timothy Tillman's cross from the left.
SVWW took a couple of minutes to process the equaliser. But once they had done so, the Red & Blacks responded with a similar move to the one that led to the opening goal. This time, however, Kyereh was unable to convert Aigner's cross from five metres (61).
It was very much a level playing field around the hour mark. Tillman struck the outside of the post with a shot (62), while Paterson Chato's attempt from the edge of the penalty area struck the side-netting at the other end (63).
Rehm's charges were not willing to settle for a draw and almost re-established the lead with 20 minutes to go when Dittgen went on a solo run and shot towards the near post. But SGF shot-stopper Burchert was on hand to parry the ball behind for a corner-kick (70).
By the 78th minute of the match at the latest, SVWW deserved to be back in front. The home side launched yet another attack down the left flank and once again Dittgen picked out Schäffler, though the luck was not to be on his side. Usually such a prolific goal-getter, on this occasion he fired the ball over the bar and the score stayed at 1-1.
Fürth began to apply pressure themselves as they went for the win. Ernst had a go following a penalty-box scramble but his deflected shot sailed over Lindner's goal (80). Both the Franconians and SVWW did not give a inch for the remainder of the match, though it was the visitors who had the better opportunities. In the 90th minute, however, substitute David Raum had a shot from a promising position kept out by the excellent Lindner, who made another stop from Seguin 18 metres out shortly afterwards to ensure his side took a point (90+2).
SVWW: Lindner – Mrowca, Mockenhaupt, Dams, Röcker, Schwede –Chato – Aigner (Tietz, 73), Kyereh, Dittgen (Ajani, 85) – Schäffler