Little derby serves a bunch of goals
At the end both teams were more or less satisfied. After a exciting match with 2 horrible defence lines, VfL Bochum an Borussia Dormtund shared points in a 3-3 draw. While Bochum was dominating the first half an hour, BVB was the better team in the second half.
Scenario/Line up
Borussia Dortmund's coach Thomas Doll had still to do without Roman Weidenfeller and Philipp Degen. Adding to that Alexander Frei and Robert Kovac missed the Bochum clash due to minor injuries. So the black-yellows fielded the same line up as last week. VfL coach Marcel Koller also brought the same squad onto the pitch like last match day.
First Half
Though Borussia's player wanted to start furious it was VfL Bochum who set the first highlight. And what a highlight that was! In minute 3 already a free kick from the half right position taken by Mimoun Azaouagh passed the box with our players just watching the ball. Though it should anyhow had been an easy catch for goalie Marc Ziegler. Unfortunately he misjudged the ball and made a horrible parade that dropped the ball in front of Bochum player Dabrowski. The tall midfielder had no problem hitting the net with an easy header - 1-0 Bochum!
And even the the Dortmund supporters where hoping that this was the ignition for our team, the mess started to pile up. Our defence was running around like decapitated chicken and our midfield was not visible. And during this period of turmoil it was again Azaouagh who tanked down the right wing, leaving Kehl behind like school kid. His nice pass found Auer totally unmarked 10 metres in front of our goal. The VfL striker did his job and scored with a powerful shot - 2-0 Bochum!
At this moment it really looked like the afternoon could end in a total disaster for Borussia Dortmund. VfL Bochum was totally dominating the match at this moment. A low cut-in in minute 14 threw Hummels and Dede into confusion and BVB was lucky not to receive a third goal. It took until the last 15 minutes of the first half until Borussia was back in the match. Bochum lowered their pressure and Dortmund took over more and more of the midfield. Though it was surely not a real domination but at least the non-performance of the first half was over. In minute 34 Bochum did their first substitution as Dabrowski had to leave the pitch with a broken nose. Maybe this was the push our team needed. In minute 37 a free kick taken by left back Dede found Kehl in the box. The midfielder was unmarked and scored his third goal of the season with a precise header - 2-1!
And this was really the start of hectical last 10 minutes. Only 2 minutes after Kehl' strike another Dede free kick found Petric. The Croatian striker copied Kehl and scored also by head - 2-2!
While the many BVB supporters were now hoping for a total triumph, it took only another 3 minutes to bring them back to earth. A deflected ball found Auer who was not offside. The Bochum striker paced direction Ziegler and left our goalie no chance with a nice low shot into the left corner - 2-3 for Bochum. What a first half with 5 goals!
Second half
Both teams came back onto the pitch without any further changes. The second half started not that furious. Though BVB was still the better team, there were changes on both sides. So it took until minute 63, when Diego Klimowicz entered the pitch as Federico had so leave. Klimowicz' substitution seemed like another kick for our team. Only 1 (!) minute later he initiated a nice attack with Petric. Klimowicz' shot was cleared by Lastuvka but only deflected direction goalline. Tinga rushed into the ball and it was 3-3!
Borussia Dortmund didn't lower the pressure but laid siege to the Bochum box. Maybe they lacked a little bit of attack power but at least the midfield was dominated by black-yellow. Anyhow Borussia Dortmund was not able to create as many chances as in the first half. There was only one big chance that was wasted by Nelson Valdez and another volley effort by Florian Kringe. Both were wide. And when everyone thought this would end as a draw, VfL Bochum had a last dangerous approach. A corner kick found a Bochum head. The ball was cleared by Rukavina who was standing on the goal line. After 92 minutes referee Fleischer blew the final whistle.
Summary
All in all it was a more or less deserved draw. Would there have been the first 20 to 30 minutes, it would have been a brilliant match for BVB. But during this period of the match it looked like we would be destroyed by VfL Bochum. So in the end both teams can be satisfied with 1 point.
Statements
Thomas Doll: "We started very well but didn't score the third goal. Then Dortmund showed us how to play football and finally scored the deserved equaliser. So in the end we didn't improve in the table."
Marcel Koller: "We had a period of 15 minutes where we were still sleeping and got behind due to individual errors. We then showed that we can really play football and even showed morale. Towards the end we were close to winning this match."
Statistics
VfL Bochum: Lastuvka - Pfertzel [72. Epallé], Maltritz, Yahia, P. Bönig - Imhof - Zdebel [51. Concha], Dabrowski [34. Ono] - Azaouagh - Sestak, Auer
Coach: Marcel Koller
BVB: Marc Ziegler (5) - Rukavina (3), Hummels (4), Wörns (4), Dede (2) - Kehl (3) [67. Buckley] - Kringe (3), Tinga (2) - Federico (5) [63. Klimowicz] - Valdez (4), Petric (3)
Coach: Thomas Doll
(Marks: 1=world class, 2=did very well, 3=performance was ok, 4=not enough but not too bad at all, 5=not worth the money, 6=should pay money for playing football)
Goals: 1-0 Dabrowski (3., header, assist: Azaouagh), 2-0 Auer (9., right-footed, Azaouagh), 2-1 Kehl (37., header, Dede), 2-2 Petric (39., header, Dede), 3-2 Auer (42., right-footed, Zdebel), 3-3 Tinga (64., right-footed, Klimowicz)
Yellow cards: Zdebel / Wörns
Referee: Dr. Fleischer
Attendance: 31.328 (Ruhrstadion, sold out)
jonam, 30.03.2008
