"It was hard work as expected," said Pätzold afterwards. "We thought Essen would be a bit more passive and were surprised at how high they pressed us. We struggled early on to fashion good chances from our spaces and allowed a few counters after half an hour. Luckily we got off to the best possible start after the break, then gained a foothold in the opposition half and regularly got in front of goal. With a player down, we kept it tight with a lot of effort, heart and running." The coach was particularly happy about his team's display after Levels was sent off. "We knew that Essen have comeback qualities, so we're all the more pleased that we withstood that period successfully," he added.
Pätzold again kept faith with the 11 who started in the 3-2 opening win at SC Freiburg and the 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. The game began without any notable goalmouth action from open play, although Juliette Vidal missed a good chance to open the scoring from Cornelia Kramer's corner (10'). Four minutes later, Kögel's free kick from a promising position was too central.
The visitors looked the more threatening team in the early stage. Levels' effort was blocked for a corner (17'), but then out of nothing Essen created the best opportunity of a disjointed game up to that point, defender Julia Debitzki blasting over from close range (29'). Three minutes later, Leverkusen goalkeeper Friederike Repohl was equal to a shot from Lilli Purtscheller.
With the hosts growing into the game towards the end of the first half, Synne Skinnes Hansen made amends for her own mistake at the last moment to prevent a goal (37'). A direct free kick from Natasha Kowalski then skimmed the crossbar (42'). However, the Werkself had a big chance of their own a minute later, when striker Caroline Kehrer suddenly found himself one-on-one in front of Kim Lea Sindermann but couldn't beat the SGS keeper, and so it remained goalless at the interval.
The deadlock was broken inside the first minute of the second half courtesy of birthday girl Kögel, who found the right corner with a shot from just outside the penalty area. It was the midfielder's third goal in as many games. The girls in white pushed on and the unmarked Kehrer missed a chance to double the lead from Skinnes Hansen's cross (56'). Levels did better just a minute later, when Kögel spotted the run of the full-back with a long cross-field ball - and she coolly chipped it in to make it 2-0.
Essen immediately searched for a way back while Bayer 04 focused on defending. Goalscorer Levels, who'd been booked earlier on, was dismissed for a second bookable offence on 67 minutes. Pätzold reacted with a double substitution, bringing on Shen Menglu and Estrella Merino for Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir and Kehrer (71'). The Werkself continued to defend determinedly and hardly allowed Essen any chances to score in the closing stages, thus seeing out a deserved away win.
Bayer 04 Women open Matchday 4 of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga this Friday. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim are the visitors to the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion for a 18:30 CEST kick-off.
Match stats:
SGS Essen: Sindermann - Joester, Rieke, Flach, Fürst - Kowalski, Pfluger (Potsi 46', Köpp 87') - Purtscheller, Debitzki (Terlinden 81'), Elmazi - Maier
Bayer 04: Repohl - Skinnes Hansen, Ostermeier, Turanyi, Levels - Piljic, Vidal (Jorde 90'+4)- Vilhjalmsdottir (Shen 71'), Kögel - Kramer (Haim 90'+3), Kehrer (Merino Gonzalez 71')
Goals: 0-1 Kögel (46'), 0-2 Levels (57')
Red cards: Levels (67', second bookable offence)
Yellow cards: Högner (coach) / Kramer, Piljic, Shen
Referee: Dr. Riem Hussein (Bad Harzburg)
Attendance: 1,512 at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße
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