One point for both – but also not enough for both. Due to the 2:2 (1:1) on Sunday in the third division derby against SV Meppen, VfL Osnabrück fell back in the promotion race – and SVM made only minimal progress in the fight for league status.
After the victories of the rivals Dynamo Dresden, SV Wehen Wiesbaden and 1. FC Saarbrücken, Osnabrück is now two points behind third and fourth in the table and one point behind the Saarlanders. Meppen went unbeaten for the fourth time in a row, but the gap to the first non-relegation zone is four points two games before the end of the season.
“Today we can be sad.”
— VfL striker Marc Heider
VfL veteran Marc Heider classified the result with a mixture of defiance and pragmatism. “We still have one more point, but of course we would have liked to win. Now we have to win the next two games and then we can see what the point was good for,” he said in an interview with NDR. “Today we can be sad. Starting tomorrow we’ll look ahead again.”
Meppen’s Luka Tankulic was also disappointed: “We definitely expected more. We went for the win, but unfortunately it didn’t work out in the end. We want to stay positive until the end and create the miracle.”
Wiemann heads Osnabrück into the lead
The purple and white were the more committed and better team in the first few minutes. In the early stages, they just didn’t manage to create chances to score from the game. In the end, a standard situation had to be found in order to crack the SVM defense. In the 22nd minute, Florian Kleinhansl hit a corner from the left at the five-meter box, the promoted VfL defender Niklas Wiemann rose determinedly to the header – 1:0 for the promotion candidate.
More would have been possible. Osnabrück’s captain Timo Beermann (31st) failed to raise it, as did Noel Niemann six minutes later. The striker ran a few yards ahead with the ball at his feet towards Meppen goalkeeper Matthis Harsman, but before he could finish, Tobias Kraulich stole the ball away from him again with an outstanding tackle.
Ballmert equalizes for SVM after strong Blacha preliminary work
Twice as bitter for the hosts: instead of 2-0, it was soon 1-1. The SVM took advantage of its first chance in a playful way. David Blacha quickly moved left to the baseline and then sharply passed the ball back diagonally – exactly into the free space between three Osnabrück players. Markus Ballmert was quicker than the trio and put the ball into the net to make it 1-1 (38 th ).
VfL responds quickly to the backlog
After the break, the Emslanders acted more courageously and that was rewarded. Following a free kick from ex-Osnabrück player Marcos Alvarez into the VfL penalty area, Brazilian Bruno Gabriel Soares climbed up the back post and headed in to make it 2-1 – SVM had turned the game around (61′). However, the joy lasted only seven minutes: Kleinhansl equalized with a spirited shot from the edge of the penalty area.
The purple-whites pushed with power, had top chances through Wiemann (79th) and Oliver wahling (81st), but the 3:2 winning goal didn’t succeed because the Meppen team threw themselves into the shots with enormous passion. After the final whistle, players from both teams collapsed onto the pitch from exhaustion and disappointment.
Match statistics VfL Osnabruck – SV Meppen
Matchday 36, 14.05.2023 2:00 p.m
| VfL Osnabrück | 2 |
| SV Meppen | 2 |
Tore:
- 1:0 Wiemann (21.)
- 1:1 Ballmert (38.)
- 1:2 Bruno Soares (61.)
- 2:2 Kleinhansl (68.)
VfL Osnabrück: P. Kühn – OH Traoré, Wiemann, Beermann, Kleinhansl – Köhler – L. Kunze, Wulff (64. Wahling) – Niemann (64. Heider), Engelhardt (88. Higl), Simakala
SV Meppen: Harsman – Dombrowka, Bruno Soares, Kraulich – Ballmert (65 Puttkammer), Evseev (84 Mazagg), Käuper (46 Alvarez), Risch – Blacha (46 M. Pepic), Tankulic (78 Fassbender) – Pourié
Viewers: 15741 (sold out)
This topic in the program:
sports club | 14.05.2023 | 10:50 p.m