Successful dress rehearsal

Both sides took their time in their respective dress rehearsals, immediately seeking to attack the opponent’s goal. Their two strikers, Lidberg and Schleimer, each appeared in the penalty area and had promising shooting opportunities, but were decisively thwarted at the last moment. The first controversial moment came after just under fifteen minutes when Lidberg was brought down in the box. However, the Spanish referee’s whistle remained silent. Five minutes later, the ball was in the back of the SVWW net; after a corner, Lidberg pounced on a loose ball to seemingly give his team the lead. This time, however, a whistle blew, and the refereeing team disallowed the goal.

The pressure from SV Darmstadt 98 remained high: In the 21st minute, Klefisch found his teammate Richter in the penalty area, who attempted an acrobatic bicycle kick, but the striker was denied the goal, as SVWW goalkeeper Brdar was equal to the task. After Wehen Wiesbaden also threatened the opposing goal through Flotho after almost half an hour, Darmstadt shifted into high gear just before halftime: Akiyama’s shot went narrowly wide (40th minute), and two minutes later, Marseiles even rattled the post. As the half-time whistle blew, the breakthrough finally came: Lidberg won a counter-attack and found Richter, who chipped the ball to Bialek. The Pole made no mistake, heading home to give Darmstadt the lead.

SVWW came out of the locker room with renewed energy and were significantly more active after the restart than in the first half. Schleimer had a chance to equalise, but Schuhen made a quick save (49′). Shortly afterward, Schuhen was called into action again, tipping Bogicevic’s shot around the post (55′). Schleimer’s shot was cleared off the line (64′), and after Kaya fired just wide of the right post from a central position in front of goal, the South Hessians could consider themselves fortunate that SVWW had let the 1-1 equaliser slip away.

But it was Darmstadt who scored after 74 minutes: Richter took a shot from distance and blasted the ball into the net – 2-0. Wehen Wiesbaden responded in the 81st minute when Becker scored inside the penalty area. Shortly afterward, Schuhen prevented the equaliser with a strong save following a corner. The final ten minutes saw no significant chances for either side, and thus Darmstadt won their second mid-season friendly against Wehen Wiesbaden.