Verne2 1 - 0 Schalke (384320572)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 42721 had shown up at Bolzplatz Sundern for the match. Robert Kobylanski was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Max Jordans and Leif Harder. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Nordrhein-Westfalen derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Verne2. Starters: Hospital - Luoma, Mola, Somalo - Steenberger, Döberitz, Füldner, Niederbüssau, Gardiner - Bokri, Stephenson.

Schalke had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players took the field: Bentele - Barron, Jaspert, Calligaro, Akcan - Brünneck, Rathgeber, Pausch, Thissen, Frieß - Stockdorf.

It was obvious that Schalke were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. Verne2 could have put themselves ahead after 11 minutes but V. Stephenson missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Y. Akcan of Schalke was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Making his way up the middle 31 minutes into the match, M. Füldner almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert M. Bentele blocked it to keep the score level. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Verne2, with 63 percent of the ball.

T. Stockdorf would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. F. Johannsen entered the game for Schalke as the match clock showed 46 minutes. Schalke's F. Johannsen had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 55 minutes having been played. R. Weinkopf was the replacement. Schalke's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. 66 minutes into the game, Schalke seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a passable level of organisation. 71 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Verne2 to take the lead after a good cross from the right found V. Stephenson alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. J. Luoma of Verne2 seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 1 - 0 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by J. Mola. Verne2 had most of the ball, with 65 percent of possession.

Verne2's best player was M. Füldner. However, I. Steenberger made a disastrous appearance. C. Thissen performed admirably for Schalke. R. Weinkopf turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 0.