Ten lions better than eleven lions? Neudecker: "It doesn't matter, we have the points ..."

When three competitors are in crisis, the lions are happy ... Dresden and Rostock lose, Ingolstadt also loses points.

Not so the Lions, who had a lot of will to win in the 3-2 win against Verl and the necessary luck.

Two weeks ago, the promotion places were at best visible with a telescope - now Mölders and Co. have the best chance of reaching the home straight.

Sascha Mölders knocked both fists on the sandy lawn, his gaze went to the right, where Fabian Greilinger also put his hands over his face in disbelief.

Did the top scorer of the 3rd division actually just pass the final counterattack to the preliminary decision at the empty goal?

Three minutes later, the scene was still a topic in the center circle talk between the lion captain and his prevented assist-giver, but since the 3: 2 on the scoreboard above the SC Verl goal was now official, a mood prevailed Michael Köllner described it like this: "When you start as a coach at 1860 Munich, you know that you won't see the prime of your life here until the last day." Unfortunately, Köllner had to last longer on Saturday than he would have liked.

But, he said mildly: "That makes the victories all the more beautiful."

Verl defensive like a freshly caught catfish

So in the end it was 3: 2 instead of 4: 2 against a newcomer who defended himself like a catfish who dodged the knockout blow of the angler with never-ending life energy.

The newcomer to the league from the village of 25,000 people south of Bielefeld - he just kept fighting and wriggling.

Unmoved after the Mölders double strike (15, 19th), with which the Lions responded to the early Verler leadership (Justin Eilers, 2nd).

Unimpressed after the yellow-red card against Daniel Mikic (51st), who made it 2-2 despite a previous goal against the post (Yildirim, 57th).

The strong East Westphalia did not even give up when fate finally took the side of the home side and enabled Richard Neudecker (self-description) one of the rare header hits of his career (65th).

Dimensional flank as before the 2: 2: Phillipp Steinhart.

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Congratulations, header monsters: Stefan Lex and Sascha Mölders celebrate the winning goal scorer Richard Neudecker.

© Sampics / Christina Pahnke

"Steini just shot me, I couldn't leave," joked the winning goal scorer, who was shaking on the bench for the last 20 minutes.

“I went out relatively early because I was dead,” said Neudecker at Magenta, describing the thrilling final phase with refreshing honesty: “I think the whole stadium heard me.

I went nuts because you have to honestly admit: They were better with ten people than we were with eleven.

Unfortunately they played for us today, but in the end it doesn't matter because we took the three points with us. "

I think you get the momentum for yourself, you don't get that for free.

1860 coach Michael Köllner.

The victory tasted even sweeter at the end after the results of the competition made the rounds.

Rostock 0-2 against Magdeburg.

Ingolstadt 2-2 against Bayern II. Two weeks ago, promotion was still a distant dream, ten or nine points away.

Now there are only four points left to places two and three, five to the Dresdner trimmed by Haching - suddenly everything is possible again.

“I think you develop the momentum for yourself, you don't get that for free,” said Köllner: “The players plow in every training session, it was a hard-fought victory.

We had a good plan today for playing around the opponent's attack pressure.

The team has to go on like this.

I hope that the momentum will pull her over to her side in the next few weeks as well. "

The program doesn't get any easier, neither for the promotion rivals nor for Köllner's Löwen, who face Türkgücü on Saturday - in a place that stands for better times, for the Bundesliga era of the sixties, which ended abruptly in 2004.

"We hope that we can also score points in the Olympic Stadium," said Köllner: "It's an extremely important game for us." So that the blue dream of promotion lives on.