0:0 at Jena – Women pick up point in relegation battle

The visitors from Leverkusen made the better start to the clash: Jessica Wich came close to threatening the goal of the USV keeper Inga Schuldt an (4’, 6’) with two free-kicks. The first shot on goal for Jena came after a quarter of an hour but the long-range effort from Marza Julevic went well wide of Anna Klink’s goal (13’). The Werkself Women had somewhat more possession and looked to create openings but the chances for Dora Zeller (24’), Ivana Rudelic (28’) and Pauline Machtens (31’) were not taken. “The opponent sat back in their own half. We didn’t manage to get behind their back four often enough. And there were also technical errors. That’s why we could only create a few goalscoring opportunities,” said head coach Achim Feifel in summing up the first half.

Barth misses Penalty

The 55-year-old reacted at the restart by making a triple substitution: Henrietta Csiszár, Frederike Kempe and Lena Uebach came on for Wich, Barbara Reger and Gianna Rackow. Leverkusen had the first shot in the second half. This time Sandra Jessen tested the keeper Schuldt (47’). Jena then had a chance through Christin Meyer in the Leverkusen penalty area but the shot went wide of the target (50’). A few minutes later, Jena mounted a quick counter-attack after winning possession during the opposition build-up play but again Meyer was not able to get the ball in the back of Klink’s net (56’). Bayer 04 became more and more dominant as the game went on. But Milena Nikolic was unable to beat Schuldt when in a good position to score (70’).

The Jena keeper was centre stage on 76 minutes: Zeller was brought down in the box and referee Dr. Riem Hussein immediately awarded a penalty. Merle Barth stepped up, Schuldt went the right way and made the save. Both teams looked for the winner in the closing stages. But there were no goals.

“It felt like two points dropped. We applied more pressure in the second half and were more on the front foot. We did create some dangerous chances but we couldn’t score,” said Feifel in summing up the game.

Next opponents FC Köln

The Bayer 04 Women have another important game in the relegation battle in a few days time: On Sunday, 21 June, FC Köln visit Kurtekotten. The game kicks off at 15.00 CET.

Match stats:

FF USV Jena: Schuldt – Sedlackova (Große 64’), Arnold, Kremlitschka (Adam 80’), Paulsen – Seiler, Julevic (Juckel 56’), Görlitz (Tellenbröker 56’), Meyer – Kreil (Schlichting 80’), Fudalla  

Bayer 04: Klink – Vinken, Barth, Wirtz, Jessen – Wich (Csiszar 46’), Reger (Kempe 46’), Zeller, Machtens (Nikolic 54’)– Rackow (Rackow 46’), Rudelic

Booked: Seiler - Jessen

Referee: Dr. Riem Hussein (Bad Harzburg)