Strausberg vs. Eberswalde: Heimteam bleibt dran, Gästefans müssen gehen

Mit einem 4:0-Sieg gegen den FV Preussen Eberswalde gelang es dem ambitionierten FC Strausberg in der Brandenburg-Liga am Tabellenführer TuS 1896 Sachsenhausen dran zu bleiben, wenn gleich der Abstand immer noch recht beachtlich ist. 154 zahlende Zuschauer wollten am vergangenen Freitagabend die Partie in der Strausberger Energie-Arena sehen. Unter ihnen auch eine Handvoll Gästefans aus Eberswalde. 

Mit einem 4:0-Sieg gegen den FV Preussen Eberswalde gelang es dem ambitionierten FC Strausberg in der Brandenburg-Liga am Tabellenführer TuS 1896 Sachsenhausen dran zu bleiben, wenn gleich der Abstand immer noch recht beachtlich ist. 154 zahlende Zuschauer wollten am vergangenen Freitagabend die Partie in der Strausberger Energie-Arena sehen. Unter ihnen auch eine Handvoll Gästefans aus Eberswalde. 

In der zweiten Halbzeit zündeten Eberswalder Anhänger einen Blitzknaller. Daraufhin mussten diese in Begleitung der Ordner die Sportanlage verlassen. Allerdings ließen sie sich dabei so viel Zeit, so dass der Ausgang des weitläufigen Stadions im Prinzip erst bei Abpfiff erreicht wurde.

Näheres zum Spiel und zum Vorfall von unserem australischen Autor und Fotografen Glenn Dawson, der wie gewohnt seinen Text auf Englisch verfasst hat:

Friday nights trip out to the Energie Arena in Strausberg was the second visit for turus.net this season following on from the testspiele against 1.FC Union in July in front of 2,500 spectators. A hardy 155 souls braved the near freezing temperatures to view this 14th round Brandenburg-Liga fixture between FC Strausberg and Preussen Eberswalde. With both teams occupying spots in the top 4 on the table. It promised to be an entertaining match. 

A dewy pitch and the air thick with fog greeted the players as they stepped out onto the playing arena for the 7pm kick off, with church bells ringing in the background and the announcer playing across the speakers ‘Let the show begin’. Eberswalde began the match as the more dominate of the two teams and almost opened the scoring in just the 6th minute after a well worked move down the right hand side saw Christian Rauch fire low and left from inside the box, however a good save from the Strausberg keeper Timo Hampf prevented the first score. 

A forced change to Strausberg line up in the 19th minute changed the fortunes of the home side who had been dominated up until that point. Oliver Mertens coming on for the injured Christopher Lichtnow, provided an immediate spark in the middle.  Barely two minutes passed before Strausberg should have opened the scoring, when a corner kick found the head of Robert Wenzel but went just wide. Another scoring chance was missed shortly after a long ball found the feet of Alexander Raming whose two efforts on goal where well defended by the Eberswalde keeper Matthias Krause. 

The chances continued to come for the home team, and in the 27th minute Rahmigs shot was cleared off the line with the follow up volley being pushed just wide by the keeper for a corner.  A few minutes later Sirko Neumann was left in the clear,  after a quickly taken free kick, and with only the keeper to beat, chose to use power instead of placement and hit it wide of the left hand post. 

Finally all the pressure paid off for Strausberg, opening  the scoring in the 38th minute through Stephan Carsten Ilausky who finished of a lovely worked move by placing the ball into the right hand top corner from 15 metres out. Leading into half time, Strausberg almost doubled their lead with Rahmig bamboozling defenders on a run along the baseline and firing a shot from the 6yard line straight into the keeper, with the rebound bouncing perilously close to the goal line.

As the dance music played over the loud speakers at the half time break, many of the spectators made their way into the crowded bar to purchase either coffee or glühwein to warm the many numb limbs.  It was also a chance for the players to rest their bodies after an extremely physical half in which plenty of yellow cards were handed out (6 yellow and 1 red for the game). 

In a sign of how the second half would unfold, immediately from the kick off, the Eberswalde keeper was put under immense pressure when a back pass fell well short, sending the keeper scrambling to intercept before the Strausberg attacker could get there first.  16 minutes passed in the second half before Strausberg were able to double their lead.  Robert Vsetycek received a ball from the baseline and scored from outside the box past the outstretched arms of Krause. One minute later, Eberswalde had the chance to immediately hit back after a spellbinding run from Rico Eichstädt past many defenders and into the box, however all the hard work was undone when the shot went well over the top of the goal.

A red card for Eichstadt in the 65th minute for a rash tackle, was the final nail in the coffin for the guests who were already under enough pressure with 11 players on the paddock. A free kick on the edge of the 18 yard box from Tim Bolte found the head of a high flying Rahmig which forced a reflex save from Krause, however Martin Wunderlich reacted the quickest of all the players and tapped in the lose ball from 2 metres out to make the score 3-0. 

Next minute Wunderlich had the chance to double his tally, but put his diving header into the side netting from a few metres out.  No mistake was made in the 81st minute when he received a ball from the left side of the box and hit it straight past the keeper from 8 yards out for his second and to blow the score out to the final margin of 4-0. 

The final score to Strausberg was somewhat unexpected after Eberswalde’s thrashing of the Brandenburg-Liga leaders Sachsenhausen two weeks ago,  which was followed by a solid win over Eisenhüttenstadt last round. The win keeps Strausberg in second place, 8 points behind Sachsenhausen with a road trip on Friday to bottom team Eisenhüttenstadt, while Eberswalde fall two places to sixth and face FC 98 Hennigsdorf at home.

Fotos: Glenn Dawson

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