The fans celebrated the players of 1. FC Heidenheim. But the professionals themselves weren’t really happy after the zero against VfL Bochum. “We are only satisfied if we win,” said the captain of the promoted team, Patrick Mainka.
The team had fulfilled coach Frank Schmidt’s mission to gain something against their direct competitors. This is one of the reasons why the 49-year-old was able to live quite well with the result. “Everyone saw that it was a battle of attrition from start to finish,” said Schmidt. “It was important that we didn’t get a goal if we didn’t score one ourselves. We can’t win every home game.”
Kleindienst misses a big chance late on
In the final phase, Tim Kleindienst was very close to letting the newcomers, who were strong at home, celebrate. After a mistake by Erhan Masovic, he lifted the ball, which bounced slightly, not only over VfL goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, but also over the Bochum goal.
“I thought the chip was a good option. But unfortunately the ball goes over the goal because of this hop,” said the attacker. Teammate Benedikt Gimber supported Kleindienst. “He’s saved us so many points this season, so no blame. It will annoy him the most,” said the central defender.
But Gimber and his colleagues also had a lot to do. Patrick Osterhage and the lively Takuma Asano in particular posed a threat to VfL, who had been unbeaten in four games. However, since both defensive lines were concentrated and error-free for long stretches, the goals failed to materialize. “I think we played a good game. It would have been very good if we had won,” said Kevin Stöger.
The newcomer maintains 13th place in the table with eleven points – ten of which he got at home. “Where we are now is where we would like to be at the end of the season,” said Heidenheim’s Schmidt. For VfL, who are further behind, it was already the seventh draw this season. “For me, the glass is always half full. As VfL Bochum, we are in the table region where everyone expects us. But I don’t trust the game to get three points today. All in all, it was fair to our performance,” said coach Thomas Letsch, who was looking forward to the game Captain Anthony Losilla, who was recently ill, was able to fall back again.
Competitive game
The Heidenheimers often made the wrong decision when moving forward, especially before the break: sometimes the dangerous ball was not played deep, but on the wing. At times, the offensive players preferred to go to the center instead of playing to the better positioned man next to them.
It remained competitive throughout the entire season. Eight minutes after the restart, things became dangerous for the first time in front of the FCH goal. With a flying pass, Kevin Müller prevented Osterhage from falling behind (53′) and on the other side Riemann saved against Kleindienst, who, together with Eren Dinkci and Jan-Niklas Beste, had scored 15 of the 17 goals of the season so far.
Things got more heated in the final phase. Cristian Gamboa clashed with referee Felix Zwayer and was shown a yellow card. But the goalkeepers also had something to do: Müller had Asano turned away and Riemann made it particularly exciting. Because he couldn’t hold on to a shot from substitute Nikola Dovedan, the goalkeeper had to follow up again. He prevented the late goal just in time. Shortly before the end, Kleindienst missed the biggest opportunity.
