Huge relief at DJK Waldram: With the 2-0 win against WSV Unterammergau, coach Dominik Irmer's eleven secured their place in the district league at the very last moment.
The Waldram coach admitted that he was "extremely relieved" and was able to tease about the success.
"I'm probably the most unsuccessful coach in the history of Waldram - but at least I held the class."
Waldram – Nine unsuccessful attempts to win a game have graced Irmer's vita since he succeeded the hapless Guido Herberth in early April.
His squad “practiced” nine times before the first win came in the tenth and decisive game.
The bottom line is that it's not undeserved, but it had to be fought for tenaciously.
Waldram started nervously, but didn't find his way into the game against the committed second in district class 3 for a long time.
Unterammergau had more of the game, keeping the Waldram defense busy without generating capital in the form of compelling scoring chances.
"The first half was the worst since I've been here.
It was very weak in terms of play," diagnosed DJK coach Irmer.
"If you don't do a lot of things right, you just have to run, we did that."
What they lacked in gameplay, the DJK made up for with fighting spirit, led by central defenders Johannes Gebel and Abdel Kabbaj.
It was the latter who gave his team the lead in the 14th minute: Kabbaj headed a corner kick from Luca Faganello into the net.
Unterammergau responded with further attacks, fought for various free kicks near the penalty area, but these fizzled out, as did a salvo of five corner balls in a row.
After the break, DJK goalkeeper Florian Schubert saved his team from equalizing after a pound from Robin Reiter (50').
A minute later, WSV captain and goalscorer Georg Brauchle kicked a free kick into the wall from a promising position.
The longer the game lasted, the more it became, from Waldramer's point of view, the character of a defensive battle.
With the addition of Luca Hensel, the offensive game of the Irmer squad picked up speed.
In the 68th minute, Hensel missed the preliminary decision when he failed at goalkeeper Marco Diroma's thigh from close range.
Two minutes later, Luca Faganello shot just wide from 16 yards out;
that was the exercise for an identical action shortly afterwards - and he completed it with a well-placed shot next to the post to make it 2-0.
Faganello then sank under a cluster of cheering teammates.
In the heated final phase, Martin Grotz missed the opportunity to shorten the time for the winter sports club - then the referee put an end to the thrill.
"All 19 players who were there, regardless of whether they played or not, stood together today.
That's what you need.
Then you win games like that,” coach Irmer summed up with relief after the final whistle.
"I'm overjoyed," said Dominik Wamsler, Waldram's soccer department manager, summing up his turbulent emotional world after the end of the game.
"I was exhausted and hardly slept last night.
I don't need that every year."
WSV Unterammergau – DJK Waldram 0: 2 (0: 1)
Goals:
0-1 (14') Kabbaj, 0-2 (77') Faganello.
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Yellow-Red:
Kabbaj (90 + 2, DJK / rep foul).
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Referee:
Michael Schmid (SV Stoffen).
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Viewers:
533.
DJK:
Schubert – Schwesig, Ettenhuber, Kabbaj, B. Kresta, Kutz, Faganello (79. Bahnmüller), S. Kresta, Gruber (64. Hensel), Gebel, Ryan (46. Schmid, 72. Thalbauer).
