Essen 2 - 0 DSW (384424468)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 20578 had shown up at Helmut Rahn Arena for the match. Nenad Stanojevic was the appointed referee with assistance provided by William Streitenbürger and Carlo Leo. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Nordrhein-Westfalen derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. Essen decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Gossler - Cipriani, Eiginger, Beržis - Trica, Hietakari, Sulmonte, Alventosa, Familiari - Yuda, Lünemann.

DSW tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Niemann - Ghinzani, Ollerhaftig - Elsasser, Guşă, Dymarczyk, Holler, Kirberg - Roger, Ludka, Abercron.

This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when S. Ludka slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against J. Gossler, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. With 20 minutes showing on the scoreboard, Essen had a chance to take the lead after being awarded a penalty, but L. Sulmonte's shot was blocked by P. Niemann. J. Gossler looked great 25 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' H. Ollerhaftig. Essen's A. Hietakari was shown a yellow card after 30 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Making his way up the middle 31 minutes into the match, N. Yuda almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert P. Niemann blocked it to keep the score level. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, Essen's A. Familiari somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for N. Yuda, who struck for 1 - 0. DSW had a chance to level the score as T. Roger suddenly found himself free in the middle of the box with only the keeper to beat, but he misjudged the finish, and only managed to hit the bar. After 37 minutes, A. Familiari put Essen ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. It was 2 - 0 at the break. DSW had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

56 minutes in, D. Guşă made an incredible run up the middle and nearly reduced the home side's lead, but J. Gossler refused to let the ball slip by him. G. Elsasser had a couple of good opportunities to reply, but the home team's keeper J. Gossler was simply unbeatable. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by DSW, with 55 percent of the ball.

Essen's top performer was clearly N. Yuda. J. Lünemann turned in a dismal performance, however. D. Guşă performed admirably for DSW. However, P. Niemann made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 0.