Twelve days after the unlucky 3-2 defeat against Bayern Munich, Pätzold made two changes to his starting line-up. Summer signing Shen Menglu started at right back in place of Juliette Vidal. Ahead of her, Loreen Bender started on the right wing instead of Karolina Lea Vilhjalmsdottir, who played for Iceland in two friendlies in the USA during international break. 17-year-old Paula Schwartze from the U20 team was in the Bundesliga squad for the first time.
The visitors made a dream start: The first attack of the game saw Bender pass to Kramer who sidestepped two opponents before slotting the ball home. Leverkusen, playing in the cyan blue away kit for the first time, made it 1-0 after 77 seconds. At the other end, Janou Levels was able to turn the first dangerous cross from FC Köln away for a corner (8'). The hosts endeavoured to respond but the Werkself stood firm with a lot of hard work in defence.
The hosts were finally rewarded for their efforts with an impressive strike. A cross from the right saw Laura Vogt hit the ball into the top left corner with a bicycle kick (21'). The Werkself hit back four minutes later. Referee Naemi Breier awarded a penalty for a foul in the box by the goalscorer Vogt. Kramer converted the penalty to score her first brace for Bayer 04 (25').
Three minutes later, the Dane Sofie Zdebel hit a shot just wide of the left upright. The visitors kept up the pressure, Bender broke into the penalty area at pace but her shot was blocked (31'). The Pätzold team became more and more secure up to half-time and they succeeded in keeping the FC Köln team away from their goal.
The second half started with no substitutions but it was more lively. FC Köln pressed forward and the Bayer 04 Women waited for their chance to counter. A long cross from Bender landed on top of the net (54') with neither side showing much more danger initially. Shortly after that, Vilhjalmsdottir replaced her teammate in the same position (62').
The hosts gained the upper hand in this phase of the game and put the Werkself under pressure. Kramer and Co. had individual attacks to ease the pressure. After a long interruption due to an injury, Pätzold made a further substitution bringing on Estrella Merino Gonzalez for Menglu (70'). FC Köln were running out of steam with the spectators seeing more challenges than attempts on goal.
In a hard-fought finish to the game, Levels tried a long-range effort. At the other end the hosts were dangerous from a free kick in front of the goal minded by Friederike Repohl (81’). The substitute Vilhjalmsdottir was then denied by the Köln keeper Josefine Osigus (84’). For the last few minutes, Pätzold brought on Ida Daedelow and Delice Boboy. Kramer had a big chance from a counter-attack to seal the win but missed (90+2'). The visitors gave nothing away in defence as they secured the derby win.
The Leverkusen Women are back in action on Sunday, 10 November (kick-off: 14.00 CET) with a home game at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against Turbine Potsdam with the newly promoted club pointless after seven matches. Tickets for the game are available HERE from the Bayer 04 online shop.
Match stats:
FC Köln: Osigus - Matysik, Vogt, Hechler (Degen 78'), Gerhardt (Leimenstoll 90') - Feiersinger, Achcinska, Zeller - Donhauser (Wiankowska 57'), Ziemer, Bienz (Billa 57')
Bayer 04: Repohl - Menglu (Merino Gonzalez 70'), Ostermeier, Turanyi, Levels - Zdebel, Piljic - Bender (Vilhjalmsdottir 62'), Kögel (Daedelow 90+1') - Kramer, Kehrer (Boboy 90+1')
Goals: 0-1 Kramer (2’), 1-1 Vogt (21’), 1-2 Kramer (25’ pen.)
Red card: Pätzold (90+5’ for dissent)
Yellow cards: Bienz, Vogt, Hechler - Zdebel, Bender, Turanyi, Kehrer
Referee: Naemi Breier (Zerf)
Attendance: 2,600 at the Franz Kremer Stadium
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