On 19 February 1961, six homegrown players line up at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium: Werner Röhrig, Egon Rosinski, Helmut Weber, Horst Stollenwerk, Heinz Höher and Günther Haarmann are half a dozen players in the starting eleven who had already played for Bayer 04 as youth players. Behind them is long-serving regular goalkeeper Fredi Mutz. This young backbone is strengthened by Klaus Niemuth, Werner Torner and Uwe Klimaschefski, who arrived from Bremerhaven in the summer of 1960 together with coach Garske. The eleventh man is Hans-Otto Peters, who joined the Bayer squad that summer from Solingen.
Leverkusen's Heinz Höher and Uwe Klimaschefski in particular were later to make their mark on the Bundesliga, both as players and coaches.
Günther Haarmann unstoppable
VfB Bottrop visit Leverkusen on this February day - and the 2,500 spectators witness a Werkself that finally fights for every inch again, exerts pressure from the wings and looks to finish from all angles. Three virtues that had been sorely lacking in recent weeks. But the outstanding Bottrop goalkeeper initially thwarted all efforts. He excelled himself, made several brilliant saves and even earned a round of applause from the Leverkusen fans. The visitors' penalty area was under siege several times in the first half, but the shots from Klimaschefski, Peters and Haarmann - this time in the centre - did not find their way over the line. So it's 0-0 at the break.
After the restart, the Bayer 04 supporters had to remain patient before the spell was broken. On 69 minutes, the Werkself mount an attack via Horst Stollenwerk and Günther Haarmann. Haarmann receives the ball, takes a three-step run-up and finally fires it into the net to make it 1-0. Bottrop now threw everything forward, but the visitors were unable to pose a real threat on goal - and the Bayer keeper Mutz was rarely to be beaten from distance anyway.
The win was sealed on 82 minutes: Günther Haarmann once again won the ball on the halfway line, picked up speed unhindered, beat two Bottrop players just outside the penalty area and finished past the onrushing goalkeeper to make it 2-0. Even coach Erich Garske, who had previously bemoaned the missed chances so often in bewilderment, now raised his arms in jubilation and applauded enthusiastically for the strong individual performance. The visitors concede defeat and the Werkself finally record another deserved victory.
At the end of the season, Bayer 04 ‘only’ finished third in the table, but it was precisely this team that formed the basis for the strong Werkself side of the following season - the team that would win the championship in the Oberliga West 2 in 1962 and thus secure promotion to the Oberliga West.
