SVWW narrow defeat to Champions in season finale
Pros |
SV Wehen Wiesbaden produced a strong and spirited performance to take all three points on their visit to KSV Holstein Kiel. They fell behind to Hauke Wahl's 20th minute opener, but Jeremias Lorch and Stefan Aigner netted for the Red & Blacks in the 40th and 56th minutes respectively to complete the comeback.
SVWW head coach Rüdiger Rehm made three changes to his defensive line-up. Jeremias Lorch took over from Moritz Kuhn at right-back, while Gökhan Gül was drafted in to replace the injured Niklas Dams in the centre and Benedikt Röcker returned to the starting XI in place of Dominik Franke.
The Red & Blacks, who took to the field in their bright neon-yellow kits, started the game on the front foot. SVWW quickly put KSV under pressure, which led to possession turnovers and counter-attacking opportunities. A first effort by Lorch in the third minute, which sailed just wide from 16 metres out, was followed up by a moment of real danger two minutes later. Pressing from SVWW resulted in a chance for Stefan Aigner, who fired the ball narrowly wide of the Kiel goal from close range.
The Storks looked dangerous themselves in the opening stages. Kiel did not create any gilt-edged chances but their midfielders clearly looked comfortable on the ball and the vast majority of the play in the opening stages took place in midfield.
KSV had their confident passing to thank for their growing dominance. SVWW shot-stopper Heinz Lindner did well to intercept a through-ball from Salih Özcan but there was little he could do in the 20th minute when Phil Neumann headed a free-kick across the face of goal for Hauke Wahl to fire the home side ahead.
By this point, the visitors were struggling to break up Kiel's link-up play as well as they had at the outset. KSV were now waiting patiently for SVWW to open up and for more space to appear in the final third. But their attacking threat was limited to a free-kick by Finn Porath in the 34th minute, which was comfortably dealt with by Lindner.
With the interval fast approaching, the Red & Blacks eventually got their chance to equalise. In the 40th minute of the match, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh embarked upon a bold solo run and surged through the entire Kiel half before being brought down by Stefan Thesker just outside the penalty area. Gül's subsequent attempt took a deflection and landed at the feet of Kyereh, who played the ball into the centre for Lorch to fire past Ioannis Gelios in the Holstein Kiel goal. The half-time whistle sounded shortly afterwards with the score 1-1 – a fair scoreline based on the balance of play.
The heavens on the Kiel fjord promptly opened and ferocious rain began to fall, causing the restart to be delayed by several minutes. Once the action did eventually resume, the two teams had to get to grips with difficult pitch conditions.
SVWW, who are used to difficult conditions at the Halberg, dealt with the rain well. Lorch broke through down the right twice in quick succession: he first picked out Titsch Rivero (48) and then saw his pass into the centre towards Schäffler intercepted by Gelios (50).
Rehm appeared to have got his half-time team talk right, because SVWW were challenging for the ball effectively and coming up with good footballing solutions. Kyereh had a shot in the 56th minute and – although his standing leg slipped – the ball was deflected towards Manuel Schäffler, who reacted lightning-quick with a brilliant back-flick into Aigner's path. The veteran then slotted home his third goal of the season from close range to put Rehm's men 2-1 up.
It was not until the 63rd minute that Kiel posed a threat in front of the SVWW goal in the second half. But Porath fired Fabian Reese's cross wide of Lindner's goal, just as he did with a long-range effort three minutes later.
The Red & Blacks continued to go forward with purpose and brought Maximilian Dittgen on to replace Titsch Rivero. But the northerners had their moments too. Lindner, now increasingly at the heart of the action, was forced into a flying save by Reese in the 72nd minute and then comfortably dealt with Emmanuel Iyoha's cross on 75 minutes. As Kiel pushed more and more, SVWW fell under increasing pressure. And they were dealt a hammer blow on 79 minutes when Paterson Chato was sent off for a second bookable offence following a foul in midfield. Rehm reacted by bringing on Jakov Medic for Aigner to stabilise the defence in the final minutes. Kiel coach Ole Werner did the opposite and brought on three fresh attackers – a clear statement of intent.
However, Rehm's charges threw everything into the challenges and kept Kiel at bay. Their intent was clear: to see out the result. With their visitors defending deep, the Storks found themselves increasingly resorting to long balls – which were largely well defended by SVWW but some moments of danger did stem from second balls. Porath had a go from 25 metres out but Lindner came out on top. The Red & Blacks gave everything they had in stoppage time to prevent an equaliser and they got their reward. Sascha Mockenhaupt's long ball downfield was followed by the sound of the final whistle, prompting the visitors to celebrate a deserved win.
SVWW: Lindner – Lorch, Mockenhaupt, Gül, Röcker, Schwede (Franke, 87) – Chato – Aigner (Medic, 82), Titsch Rivero (Dittgen, 67), Kyereh (Ajani, 87) – Schäffler (Tietz, 87).