Ten-man Wolves draw in Kaiserslautern

The Wolves battled their way to their first point away from home since they beat Hansa Rostock in round five, and that despite being down to ten men for 40 minutes, as they drew 0-0 in Kaiserslautern on Saturday afternoon. Coach Erik Gerets’ side hadn’t won at the tradition-steeped Betzenberg stadium in nine attempts, but came really close in this Bundesliga round 23 clash. After beating Hansa Rostock 4-0 at home last time out, the Wolves showed a marked improvement in form prior to that crucial victory, and really should have beaten Lautern who, until they unluckily lost 1-2 in Hamburg in round 22 (which ended a fine 7 game unbeaten run), were in good shape. Although the game never saw a goal, it was the kind of goalless draw that was packed with goalmouth action, plenty of drama and passion.

Little change

The Lautern coach Kurt Jara saw no reason to change the side which took HSV all the way in round 22, the Wolves coach Erik Gerets made only one change to his victorious team from the Rostock clash. His left back Patrick Weiser replaced the German international striker Thomas Brdaric in the starting line-up. The home side went for the jugular from the off, which was mainly felt by the Wolfsburg play maker Andres D’Alessandro, who was fouled time and time again.

Early chances

After an early chance which saw Amanatidis head wide after only 4 minutes, the Wolves stood up to the early pressure and created their first chance on 16 minutes. Pablo Thiam produced a superb pass to bring Martin Petrov into a move which saw the Bulgarian winger have a shot blocked at the last second by Lautern’s. The dynamic wing-wizard was unlucky not to score only seven minutes later as the Lautern keeper Ernst superbly saved a long distance free kick. They were the only chances created by the Wolves during the first half, the same thing can not be said however, for Lautern’s Turkish-born striker Altintop. He had no less than 4 chances to score within 10 minutes.

Quiroga given his marching orders

Both sides gave the 31,033 crowd in the Betzenberg stadium value for money, as they played a passionate but equal Bundesliga clash. The first half saw the match referee Peter Sippel book four players in the first half, one of those yellow cards, was to have consequences after 49 minutes. The Argentinean defender missed a chance created by Stefan Schnoor on 47 minutes, and then pulled on the shirt of Riedl only two minutes later. The referee had no choice but to give him his marching orders for a second yellow card offence.

10 men? No problem!

Despite having a man less on the park, the visitors refused to lie down and die. In fact, the Wolves remained the better of the two sides. On 55 minutes, D'Alessandro played Petrov in, but the winger watched his shot go agonisingly over the top right hand corner of the Lautern goal. Thiam missed unmarked from the edge of the area three minutes later. Lautern had their first chance against only ten Wolves on 61 minutes, but Amanatidis failed to beat the superb Simon Jentzsch in the Wolfsburg goal, Altintop failed to convert the rebound.

No way past the decimated Wolves defence 

The visitors remained the better side and despite being down to ten man, continued to create chances, the best of which was missed on 69 minutes from close range by Karhan, who failed to capitalise on good work by Petrov and Klimowicz. Lautern’s Wenzel almost stole all 3 points at the death, as he saw a fierce shot superbly saved by Jentzsch one minute into injury time. The point taken in Kaiserslautern was worth its weight in goal for the Wolves. Surely this battling performance can be built upon, ahead of the tricky away clash at Borussia Mönchngladbach in round 24.

Well done the Wolves!

Match details:

Kaiserslautern:  T. Ernst - Lembi, Hertzsch, Wenzel, Blank - Riedl - Sforza, Engelhardt - Seitz, Halil Altintop, Amanatidis - Trainer: Jara

VfL Wolfsburg:  Jentzsch - Rytter, Quiroga, Hofland, Weiser - Karhan, Thiam, Schnoor - D'Alessandro - Klimowicz, M. Petrov - Trainer: Gerets

Referee:   Sippel

Referee:  31,033

Yellow-red card:  Quiroga (49.)

Yellow cards:  Riedl, Lembi, Engelhardt, Hertzsch - Thiam, M. Petrov, Rytter