Even without captain Jessica Wich, who suffered a broken ankle in the 5-2 defeat against Hoffenheim, Bayer 04 had chances to take the lead early on with efforts from Ivana Rudelic (3’, 25’) and Milena Nikolic (17’) but failed to find the back of the net. The Leverkusen game was briefly disrupted by the substitution through injury of Melissa Friedrich in the middle of the first half. Bayer 04 were a player down for a while and had to deal with one or two dangerous situations with Anna Klink kept her team from going behind with a brilliant save.
The first 45 minutes were disjointed with Bayer 04 failing to dominate possession as coach Feifel had imagined. “We too often made it easy for the opposition,” he said critically after the final whistle. “It was a real struggle.” In addition, the challenge for his team was made more difficult by another injury: Lara Marti did not reappear for the second half due to a calf muscle problem.
Bayer 04 were much better after the restart, showing more dominance, applying more pressure on the opposition goal and were able to exploit set pieces. And that was how Leverkusen settled the result within a few minutes: Kristin Kögel, who replaced Friedrich from the bench, put a free kick into the Meppen penalty area and the ball ended up at the feet of Nina Brüggemann who smashed it into the net on the hour mark.
A couple of minutes later, another set piece produced the second goal: Bayer 04 won the second ball from a corner, Isabel Kerschowski whipped a cross back into the danger zone where Nikolic scored with a back header into the net at the far post (62’). “It’s a quality we’ve gained,” declared a happy Feifel about the strength of his team from set pieces. “We have several players who are extremely good in the air. That can be crucial in a game like this one.”
On the back of the brace, the team eased off slightly and the opposition came into the game but were never able to really threaten Klink’s goal. Instead, Bayer 04 could have sealed the victory earlier but failed to make the most of the chances created in counter-attacks. Dora Zeller finally settled matters on 88 minutes: The Hungarian cut infield from the left flank and tried her luck from eighteen yards out with the shot coming off the underside of the bar and into the net off the shoulder of the Meppen keeper – 3-0, job done.
“It was an important win,” said Feifel about the victory. “It wasn’t easy for us with the two early substitutions and Meppen have performed well against top teams this season. We played with greater determination in the second half and carved out the win. It’s important to increase our points tally so we can improve our position before the winter break.” The win takes his team up to sixth.
Coming up:
Bayer 04 face a difficult task in the coming week. Feifel’s team are away to league leaders FC Bayern who have been in imperious form this term. The Munich team have won all nine games with a goal difference of 30 for and one against. FCB secured a convincing 4-1 victory over reigning champions Wolfsburg in the top of the table clash. “That makes today’s win even more important,” said Feifel. Because: “Now we can go to Munich with confidence and courage.”
Match stats:
SV Meppen: Sieger - Goad, Weiss, Ihlenburg (Fullenkamp 71’), Becker - Schulte, Krug - Berentzen (Jaron 88’), Preuß (Endemann 66’) - Flaws (Voitane 71’), Winczo
Bayer 04: Klink – Marti (Vinken 46’), Túranyi, Friedrich (Kögel 23’), Kerschowski - Brüggemann, Wirtz (Rackow 77’) - Rudelic (Matysik 77’), Wieder (65. Csiszár 65’) - Nikolic, Zeller
Goals: 0-1 Brüggemann (60’), 0-2 Nikolic (62’), 0-3 Zeller (88’)
Booked: Weiss (53’)
Referee: Kathrin Heimann (Gladbeck)
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