
A week later, the Werkself played at Cologne club SC West. In front of 2,000 spectators, the West men dominate Bayer 04 at will in the first quarter of an hour. Leverkusen goalkeeper Helmut Rennen had to make several saves. But then the visitors get going. The attacks on the Cologne goal were constant, but their defence held firm until half-time. After the break, Bayer 04 seemed to be on the verge of winning the game, but Paul Wiorek and Karl Heinz Spikofski missed their best chances. The game ended goalless after 90 minutes.
On 18 February 1951, Marathon Remscheid visit the Stadion Am Stadtpark. Once again, 5,000 spectators support their team and once again the Werkself lay siege to their opponents' penalty area. However, a young keeper who would later become a legend in Leverkusen was in their goal: Fredi Mutz. And this Fredi Mutz saves everything, including a penalty from Richard Job. However, Bayer 04 defender Jakob Kaiser also had to make a clearance off the line for his already beaten goalkeeper Helmut Rennen during two Remscheid counter-attacks, so it was a fair 0-0 scoreline at half-time. In the second half, left winger Paul Wiorek scored the timely and much-acclaimed opener on 60 minutes, but as the Werkself were unable to add to their lead, they conceded a goal at 1-1 in one of Remscheid's few counter-attacks. However, because the competition also failed to win their games, Bayer 04 now have a commanding five-point lead at the top of the Oberliga West 2 table.
The last game in February takes the Werkself and their supporters to the Grotenburg-Kampfbahn. Their opponents there are Preußen Krefeld. After an initially evenly-matched game, Bayer 04 took the lead on 13 minutes. A free-kick shot by Paul Wiorek can only be parried by the Krefeld keeper, Karl Heinz Spikofski follows up and puts the ball over the line. Twenty minutes later, Paul Wiorek again initiated an attack and played Richard Job in to make it 2-0. After the break, the game is in full swing. The scenes in front of both penalty areas change at lightning speed, with the Werkself producing the more creative play.
In the 56th minute, Richard Job hits a powerful shot, again the goalkeeper is unable to hold on and this time right winger Theo Kirchberg is on hand - 3-0 for Bayer 04. The Krefeld team's follow-up goal does not upset the Werkself. In the final half hour, the visitors from Leverkusen dominated proceedings and increased their lead to 5-1 with goals from Hans Flohr and Karl Heinz Spikofski again. After this commanding away win, the Werkself are top of the table on 35 points, six ahead of second-placed SSV Wuppertal. The Bayer 04 fans are already in Oberliga West mood and are eagerly awaiting the next home game against their direct rivals from Wuppertal.

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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Carsten ‘Calle’ Ramelow was born in Berlin on 20 March 1974. He began his football career in the youth teams at Tasmania 73, Tennis Borussia, SC Siemensstadt and, last but not least, Hertha Berlin. It was here that he reached the DFB Pokal final in 1993 with the Hertha Bubis team, the amateur team at Hertha Berlin, against his future employer Bayer 04 Leverkusen. But even he was unable to prevent the Werkself's 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Ulf Kirsten.
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The 1995/1996 season brought some innovations. For the first time, each player was given a squad number with his name printed on the back of the jersey. For the first time, coaches were allowed to make three substitutions and for the first time, three points are awarded for a win. And for the first time, I am no longer my team's number 1. I wear it on my back, but Dirk Heinen has taken over me in goal. So at first I sat on the bench a bit offended, but in the Rückrunde I realised I also had to make my contribution to the success of a team.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of May. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen, promoted to the Oberliga West, welcome VfL 99 Köln for the last game of a successful season. This time, the crowd of just 2,000 spectators saw more of a friendly than a championship match. Little fight, little goalmouth action and few moves in midfield to warm the hearts of the spectators. It takes a corner to give Bayer 04 the lead. Peter Röger is on hand with his head and nods home on 43 minutes for the half-time lead. When Karl-Heinz Spikofski increased the lead to 2-0 a quarter of an hour after the restart, the result was settled. The team from Cologne were able to reduce the deficit to 2-1 in the final minute, but in the end the spectators went home looking forward to the first season for a Bayer 04 team in Oberliga West 1.
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