In the 71st minute it started to hail over the Dortmund stadium, it seemed a bit as if even the clouds didn’t want to look at this kicking anymore – logically the referee sent the teams off the field because of the bad weather, at least for two minutes. And apart from two half-baked chances for TSV 1860 Munich, not much happened after that.
The favorite had shown a performance at Borussia Dortmund II that could have angered one or the other responsible person. But there were no such flashes. Firstly because the lions got a point thanks to a 1-1 (0-0) win, and secondly because this point was enough to take back the lead in the table: the surprise team SV Elversberg had lost 1-2 at home to SC Verl at the same time.
“It was absolutely fine in terms of fighting,” said a very satisfied lion trainer Michael Köllner at Magentasport. Which also means that it wasn’t okay in terms of play. But he just wanted to see the glass half full, not the half empty. You can’t win every game, and you’re on target: “Get a point away, win at home – that would be a formula for success,” says the 52-year-old with a view to the goal of promotion.
The goal of the lions remains promotion to the second division
If you really want to see the glass half empty, you could say: The sixties are currently having considerable problems away from home – and have only scored two points in the last three league games abroad. When Sixty also lost 1-0 at FV Illertissen in the state cup last Tuesday, Köllner announced a team with a different face for the game in Dortmund. According to the coach, the main task this season is promotion.
Whereby the away games in the case of the sixties is often very relative. The third division game on Saturday afternoon took place exceptionally in the Dortmund Bundesliga Arena because the Rote Erde stadium is being renovated; which attracted even more fans among the already keen to travel lion fans. Around 2,500 had traveled with them, and they ensured clear conditions purely acoustically. However, in view of the game, lion dreams of more regular visits to stadiums of this format were forbidden.
Because there is often much more tempo in the game in this arena, the ambience also created a certain contrast and made the slow game seem even more boring. When things went fast in this game, it was mostly through Dortmund attacker Justin Njinmah, who also acted as a representative of Dortmund’s weaknesses this season: always somehow dangerous, but mostly harmless in the end. The sixties, on the other hand, shone in the first half with important defensive actions, such as Christopher Lannert and Fabian Greilinger with decisive tackles (36th, 39th) or goalkeeper Marco Hiller with a save after a long-range shot by Marco Palasic (37th).
The lions managed almost nothing from the game, free kicks radiated a hint of danger. Even explicit invitations to score goals were dealt with hesitantly. Albion Vrenezi threw a shot into two rushing opponents when he received the ball directly in the opponent’s sixteen after a fatal miss (15′). Vrenezi had shown improving form in the past few weeks, today he remained pale.
But the 28-year-old winger got an invitation and he accepted. In the 62nd minute he converted a penalty that young Dortmund goalkeeper Silas Ostrzinski owed in his third division debut against Stefan Lex. The only funny thing was that the leadership didn’t end the timid appearance of TSV. And so the lions ran into a counterattack, which Palasic ended with the only bright spot of the game, a nice flick into the far corner, just six minutes after the 0:1. “The goal was avoidable when it was created,” analyzed Köllner. “Of course it’s a shame that we didn’t make better use of the switching moments after the lead.” He should also be annoyed that captain Lex left the field in the final phase.
A win would not have been deserved either, the sixties did far too little for that after the hailstorm. Characteristic of a scene from minute 87, when Greilinger was looking for a pass station with a throw-in, and desperately raised his arm because he couldn’t find one. “Third division is a lot of attrition,” said Köllner. It’s rare that a league leader sounds almost apologetic.