Red Hocks Kaufering have to go into the season extension

Created: 05/17/2022, 09:03

Red Hock Daniel Wipfler (front) scored two goals against Holzbüttgen.

© Finkenzeller

Kaufering – Last weekend the Red Hocks Kaufering played one of the most important but at the same time most demanding games of the season: With a win at table runners-up DJK Holzbüttgen, the Reds could have avoided the playdowns on the last day of the main round and secured relegation early.

Although Kaufering played a strong game and kept leading until the final third, the surprise didn't succeed;

so the path now inevitably leads to the playdowns.

Right from the start, the Red Hocks showed that they had brought the momentum of the last few weeks to Holzbüttgen.

Although the game was initially very balanced, it was the guests from Bavaria who got the first pinprick: After a cross pass from Marco Tobisch, Jan Küchli started to swing and sank the fluttering ball in the left corner of the cross.

The joy didn't last long, however, because the DJK turned the game around with a double strike - Torben Lange and national player Nils Hofferbert scored to make it 1:2.

Spurred on further by the coaching duo Christoph Huber and Markus Heinzelmann, the Red Hocks came out of the dressing room with a "Now more than ever!" attitude in the second third: This paid off in the 25th minute, because Daniel Wipfler converted a quick turning shot into a 2:2 and thus opened the door to staying up again – as the results in the other halls showed, a draw would have been enough to stay in the Bundesliga.

A good eight minutes later, the referees gave DJK a two-minute penalty for pushing.

Despite being outnumbered, Holzbüttgen bravely tried to counterattack, but lost the ball in the process;

The Red Hocks didn't let this chance pass them by and scored the 3:2 after a quick lateral shift by Raphael Heinzelmann.

Jonas Fellner scored the goal (33rd).

Afterwards, however, the assignment did not fit in the Reds' back team, which Holzbüttgen exploited coldly: Niklas Stammen equalized.

But the Red Hocks kept their nerve and went ahead again: after they had patiently let the ball go, Jan Küchli and Marco Keß started a one-two and Keß, the Kauferinger's most experienced player at almost 32 years of age, closed with a powerful wrist shot to make it 3:4 away.

The start of the last 20 minutes of the Bundesliga main round went badly: Holzbüttgen had substituted the injured national player Torben Kleinhans to bring about the turnaround, and the plan worked: After just 15 seconds, Kleinhans was served at the far post and pushed to 4: 4 a.

This was followed by an open exchange of blows, with the Red Hocks coming back once more: again it was Wipfler who presented with a flick.

But Holzbüttgen equalized in the 43rd minute.

Bitter then: After the Red Hocks were outnumbered, it was 6:5.

And while the equalizer didn't want to succeed from then on, the DJK increased - again through Kleinhans - to 7:5.

So the Red Hocks were left with the full risk: Coach Heinzelmann took goalkeeper Dominik Bürger off the field in favor of another player - which Nils Hofferbert used to make it 8:5 into the empty goal.

The Red Hocks now finish the main round in 11th place and have to go to the playdowns.

That means: In a best-of-three series, the Reds meet on 4./11.

and June 12 on the twelfth-placed DHfK Leipzig - first away, then once or twice in the Kauferinger sports center.

If Kaufering loses two of these three games, relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga would be sealed.

If the Red Hocks win two of the games, the next step would be relegation: In this they would meet the second division runners-up, again in a best-of-three series.

Whoever wins this relegation series can play first class next season.

The season would then end by the end of June at the latest.