Football United

A goal by the Frenchman Steve Marlet well into injury time at the end of the second half, gave the Wolves a rather fortunate goal at home to lowly Duisburg in round 28 of the Bundesliga on Saturday afternoon. (1.4.06). A paltry crowd of just 16,000 in the VOLKSWAGEN Arena saw a game between two teams looking like relegation candidates. After a dull and goalless first half, the Wolves striker Diego Klimowicz was rightly sent off for elbowing an opponent. Peter van Houdt put Duisburg in front on 74 minutes, before Marlet grabbed an equaliser at the death.

Return of the strikers
Klaus Augenthaler made three changes to the Wolves side which grabbed a the superb 2-2 draw away to Schalke in round 27: Youngster Lamprecht replaced the suspended Sarpei, while the injured van der Leegte and Hoogendoorp made way for Auge’s first choice strike force of Klimowicz. Augenthaler’s Duisburg counterpart Jürgen Kohler replaced Meyer with Möhrle who returned to the Zebras first team after suspension. That was the only change to the Duisburg team which lost 1-3 defeat against Bayern last weekend.

Toothless Wolves
VFL Wolfsburg started the brighter of the two sides, and tried to put Duisburg under pressure from the off. Apart from a harmless free kick by Schnoor which flew over the crossbar after three minutes, and a mini-chance by Hristov 4 minutes later, nothing else resulted from the early pressure. It took Duisburg around 10 minutes to find their way into the game. Caligiuri was allowed to cross unchallenged into the Wolfsburg penalty box where Ahanfouf stood alone on the penalty spot. The young striker headed over as it looked easier to score on 14 minutes.

Hristov hits a post
That close call served as a wake up call for the home side, and they pressed forward in search of an opening goal against the side second bottom of the Bundesliga table. On 36 minutes, Lamprecht lobbed a ball into the Duisburg area, where Hristov out jumped their defence, but could only look on in horror as his superb header came back off a post. Mike Hanke reached the rebound, but Baelum managed to clear for a corner.

Wolves denied a penalty
The match referee Wagner was in the spotlight two minutes later as he denied the home side a penalty. Baelum appeared to foul Klimowicz in the area, but the whistle remained silent, much to the disgust of the home crowd. Duisburg upped the tempo just before the break, and the Wolves keeper Simon Jentzsch had to be on his toes to deny Caligiuri and Lavric moments before half time.

Klimowicz sent off!
The home side continued to pressurise the visitors, and Lamprecht had the first chance of the second half on 56 minutes as he found himself unmarked on the left edge of the Duisburg area. The youngster rushed his effort which flew wide of the target. Klaus Augenthaler was forced into a re-think on 62 minutes as Klimowicz and Baelum clashed on the edge of the Duisburg box. The Duisburg defender pulled the Argentinean’s shirt and Klimowicz elbowed him in the face. After consulting his assistant, Wagner decided on a free kick to Wolfsburg, a yellow card for Baelum and a red card for Klimowicz.

Jenzsch makes rare mistake
The Wolves were in a state of shock and fell behind on 74 minutes as substitute van Houdt broke down the right to the edge of the Wolfsburg penalty area from where he fired in what looked to be a tame shot, which bobbled in front of Jentzsch, before looping over him and into the net. The shot certainly didn’t look that difficult to stop and the Wolves keeper was left with egg on his face. That bitter blow seemed to break the will of the home side and the Wolves hung their heads. Duisburg however, was unable to take advantage and two gilt edged chances by Ahanfouf (81.) and Lavric (83.) went begging as the Wolves were there for the taking.

Marlet at the death!
Teams who don’t take their chances are often punished in football as Duisburg found out to their coast deep into injury time at the end of the game. Wolves substitute Steve Marlet back heeled a pass into the bottom left hand corner of the Duisburg net to beak the Zebra hearts and give the Wolves what was in reality an unlikely point in the end. It was his first goal in a Wolves jersey. Seconds later the referee blew for time.

Duisburg was five second away from what would have been their second away win of the season. The Wolves now have two points between themselves and the relegation zone. Duisburg is still 6 points from safety.

VfL WOLFSBURG: Jentzsch; Quiroga, Schnoor, van der Heyden; Menseguez, Karhan, Thiam, Lamprecht; Hristov; Hanke, Klimowicz

DUISBURG: G. Koch; Wolters, Biliskov, Baelum, Möhrle; Tararache, Willi, Bugera, Caligiuri, Lavric, Ahanfouf

GOALS: 0-1, van Houdt (74'); 1-1, Marlet (90')

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern Munchën 28 66
2. Werder Bremen 28 56
3. Hamburg 27 56
4. Schalke 27 52
5. Hertha 28 40
...
14. Wolfsburg 28 28

Source: vfl.wolfsburg.de