The Werkself coped surprisingly well with the difficult surface. Jupp Zesar, usually deployed in defensive midfield or defence, started the game as a centre-forward and scored the first two goals before the break. In the sixth minute, he latched onto a through pass from accomplished string-puller Richard Job and finished with a crisp shot into the far corner. For the second goal a minute before the break, Zesar volleyed home a cross from Job. Bayer 04 deserved the first-half lead and could even have gone into the break further ahead, but Walter Nußbaum missed a penalty.
The men from Sodingen emerged from the dressing room with a completely different mindset and reduced the deficit with their very first attack of the second half. When they then equalised ten minutes later, Bayer 04 seemed completely rattled and the game threatened to slip from their grasp. Goalkeeper Fredy Mutz just managed to fish a wonderful long-range shot out of the top right-hand corner midway through the second half. The game was on a knife-edge and offered plenty of action with chances at both ends. In the 81st minute, Job broke through on the left, charged into the centre and shot from 20 metres out. The effort was straight down the middle, but slipped through the fingers of Sodingen keeper Schmidt and landed in the net, prompting jubilation from the Leverkusen supporters. Staring defeat in the face, the Westphalian club fought to the end but the Werkself held out and the two points remained under the Bayer cross.
Hans Sarpei was born on 28 June 1976 in Tema, Ghana, and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three, where he grew up in Cologne. Even before he was born, his mother and father worked in Hamburg in the import-export sector. There they met an older man who introduced them to German culture and supported them. Out of gratitude, Hans was later given his first name, although this man died before he was born. Hans comes from a sporting family; his older brother Edward and his nephews Hans Nunoo Sarpei and Kingsley Sarpei were or are also professional footballers.
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On 3 June 1953, Hans-Josef (‘Sepp’) Kretschmann became the fifth coach in the history of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Born in Allenstein, East Prussia, on 21 March 1902, the football coach first studied to become a teacher before later switching to football. He took over the Werkself from Franz Strehle, under whom the team twice managed to stay in the 1st Oberliga West. However, Strehle did not extend his contract in Leverkusen after these two very successful years.
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After promotion to Bundesliga North 2 in the summer of 1975, Bayer 04 are fighting relegation just eight months later. The club expects full commitment from everyone in this precarious situation. Promotion coach Manfred Rummel is to give up his main job as a teacher at the Mülheim special school and become a full-time coach at Bayer 04. The coach, who is very popular with the team, does not see himself in a position to fulfil the club's request. Despite a 2-0 home win against SpVgg Erkenschwick, Manfred Rummel is put on gardening leave by "mutual agreement".
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Bayer 04, already been promoted to the 1st Oberliga West, played friendly after friendly in the second half of May 1951. And that continued throughout the following month.
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Jacek Krzynowek was born on 15 May 1976 in Kamiensk, Poland, and grew up as a typical country boy. He spent his childhood less in structured training sessions and more on simple pitches, where he spent hours playing football with older boys. He realised early on that he had exceptional shooting power and enormous stamina. But for a long time, he didn't appreciate just how much talent he had. While others dream of a great career, professional football initially seems like a distant world to him that he only knows from television.
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