SC Paderborn let the victory in the top game of the second division in Düsseldorf be taken out of their hands late on. An own goal by Felix Götze, headed in by his teammate, also cost Westphalia their lead in the table.
SC Paderborn narrowly missed out on making it to the top of the table in the Second Bundesliga. The East Westphalia team had to accept the 1-1 (0-0) draw in stoppage time in the top game on Saturday evening at Fortuna Düsseldorf and, like Düsseldorf, remain 21 points behind leaders Hannover (22), who are still playing in Elversberg on Sunday.
“It doesn’t feel good, it’s extremely bitter. We dominated here for 70 minutes. But there were 17, 18 and 19 year olds on the pitch again today and those are the experiences we have to have. But of course this defeat really hurts. It’s a shame about the end,” said Paderborn’s sports director Benjamin Weber.
In front of 35,969 spectators in the Düsseldorf Arena, the Paderborn team made it 1-0 with a goal from Filip Bilbija (61st minute), before Felix Götze (90th + 5) gave Fortuna a point with an own goal. “Not an exciting game, but it happens sometimes,” said Fortuna goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier.
Götze looks ahead
Fortuna’s coach Daniel Thioune changed his team to three positions after the negative series and for the first time in more than two months relied on stabilizer Marcel Sobottka in the defensive midfield. Both teams were more concerned with security than with spectacle and also created few chances to score. Emmanuel Iyoha for the hosts and Adriano Grimaldi for Paderborn missed the best opportunities in the first half.
After an hour, the guests, with a lot of luck, outsmarted the Fortuna defense after a input from Zehnter from a tight angle and had to accept an own goal from Götze in the last minute of stoppage time to make it 1-1.
The brother of world champion Mario Götze was beheaded by a teammate. The ball then bounced from the back of the head over the goal line. “I can’t pull my head away. That was extremely unfortunate,” said Götze, “but what do you want to do about that? We played such a good game, I’m so proud of the team. And that’s exactly where we have to continue against Nuremberg in two weeks.”
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