1.02.2025Bayer 04

History: 50 years ago – Promotion season 1974/75 (February)

On Sunday, 2 February 1975, the Werkself travelled to the stadium on Bamberger Straße in Siegburg with a group of supporters. Bayer 04 besieged the Siegburger SV goal in the first 20 minutes. But then it turned into an open game with great saves by the keepers on both sides. Shortly after half-time, the hosts had the best chance of the whole game but the Siegburger centre forward made a mess of it. After this move, the team under coach Manfred Rummel started to dominate and by the end of the game the hosts had to mount a real defensive battle to secure the draw. In spite of dropping a point, the Werkself pulled level with league leaders SC Jülich 10 who lost 2-1 at SC Nord Köln.

The following Saturday, 8 February, brought the DFB Pokal tie away to the VfB Stuttgart second team. In front of 1,600 supporters at Stuttgart's second team ground, the young VfB team gave Leverkusen a real run for their money. Bayer 04 earned the 0-0 scoreline at half-time through good defensive work and exemplary counter-attacks, which did not lead to goals. Stuttgart opened the scoring on 47 minutes. The Werkself then paid for the high tempo of the first half. The VfB second team doubled the lead to 2-0 on 63 minutes. It was only down to the goalkeeper Hubert Makel that there wasn't a bigger losing margin. The dream of the Round of 16 in the DFB Pokal was over and now it was all about full focus on promotion to Bundesliga Nord 2.

The next league game followed a week later against VfL Köln. On the Friday before the match, coach Manfred Rummel only had six fit players at the final training session and the rest were sidelined mainly due to an outbreak of flu in and around Leverkusen or due to injuries. The team picked itself on Sunday. According to coach Manfred Rummel, one or two of the players had a fever on the pitch. Given those circumstances the coach was happy with a fortunate but in the end deserved 1-0 win thanks to a penalty scored by the sweeper Willi Rehbach on 73 minutes. It was different for the Bayer 04 fans who were shouting out “stop, stop!” after the hour mark thus showing a lack of sensitivity for the situation their Werkself were in and they went home unhappy despite being top of the table.

The Werkself were away to SC Nord Köln at the end of February. Accompanied by several hundred Bayer 04 fans, the Werkself deservedly led 2-0 at half-time thanks to an own goal and a strike by Matthias Brücken. After the restart, the Nord team took control and besieged the goal of Hubert Makel and pulled a goal back. On 75 minutes they even scored a well deserved goal to make it 2-2. But four minutes after the equaliser, Peter Surbach restored the lead for the Leverkusen team with the help of the SC Nord goalkeeper. The game ended in a fortunate 3-2 win and top place alongside SC Jülich 10.

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