I’m lagging a bit in updating, anywy, here goes.
On Saturday, FC Magdeburg played SV Babelsberg 03. Freshly promotoed, Babelsberg had been struggling since the start of the season and have now changed their manager, new at the helm is Dietmar Demuth. He once asked his players (when at FC St. Pauli) to wear down the opposition by scoring constantly. That’s not the tactic he’s using at Babelsberg though. The guest were playing defensively during the entire first half, but as Magdeburg were obviously trying to repeat their Braunschweig performance in terms of attacking play, Babelsberg weren’t really threatened, except for Eric Agyemang’s attempt that went low at the goalie.
In the half-time break, Demuth had obviously told his players that he wanted more than just a draw, and so Babelsberg were becoming more audacious by the minute, culminating in their taking the lead at the 62nd, when Biran scored off a counter-attack. Under a lot of booing and jeering Magdeburg attempted to rectify the situation, but there was not much to be gained from their usual imprecise and hectic passing. However, in the 76th Jarakovic played a great pass at Lindemann who was fouled inside the box. Jarakovic stepped up to the penalty and converted it into the equaliser. In the remaining 15 minutes, Magdeburg pushed to take the lead, but their attempts can once more only be described as hapless… The match ended in a disappointing 1-all draw, giving more force to those who would sack Dirk Heyne, Magdeburg’s manager.
Lineups
1. FC Magdeburg: Beer – Grundmann, Prest, Wejsfelt (67′ von der Weth) – Gerster, A. Müller, Neumann, F. Müller, Lindemann – Agyemang (67′ Kullmann), Jarakovic
SV Babelsberg 03: Busch – Jonelat, Neumann (46′ Hartwig), Rudolph – Mauersberger, Moritz, Lukac, Zenk, Laars – Biran (76′ Stiefel), Frahn (88′ Ben-Hatira)
Score Summary
62′ Biran 0-1
76′ Jarakovic (pen) 1-1
Attendance
7,621
On Halloween, or rather Reformation Day, Magdeburg’s U23 had to play their Lotto-Pokal (formerly known as FSA-Cup) match. In the round of the last 16 teams they were once again facing Germania Halberstadt in a reprise of last year’s semi-final. This time however, Halberstadt won the match 2-1. It has become eviden in these 90 minutes that not only the FC Magdeburg first team, but also the U23 has a problem with build-up play, and the basics of the game, passing and positioning.
Halberstadt took the lead within 10 minutes, but just another minute later was reduced to ten men, as the referee sent off Halberstadt’s Hosenthien. He had attempted to kick a Magdeburg player after said player had committed a foul on Hosenthien. The red card may have been a bit harsh, but it’s the rules of the game. But even with a man more on the pitch Magdeburg was not able to put much pressure on Halberstadt and it took until the 52nd for the U23 to equalise, when Kukulies headed in a beautiful cross at the far post. Haberstadt was not finished off yet though, and in the 70th minute took the lead again when Magdeburg’s goalie Ronneburg went out of his goal too early and missed the ball with his challenge. Even if the ball had not gone in, it’s pretty likely there would have been a penalty, as the tackle wasn’t entirely fair.
With 8 minutes left on the clock the referee made another controversial decision, sending off Magdeburg’s Peter Otte after a foul that at most would have deserved a yellow card. In the end, Halberstadt deserved to win as they were the better team overall.
Lineups
1. FC Magdeburg U23: Ronneburg – Otte, Loth (28′ Zander), Jahnel (76′ Gebauer) – Probst, Friebertshäuser, Schulz (72′ Windelband), Kauffmann – Deumelandt – Kullmann, Kukulies
VfB Germania Halberstadt: Kischel – Sommermeyer, Gottwald, Saalbach, Pölzing – Kopp, Hosenthien – Binsker (75′ Reitzig), Gerlach (83′ Kaczur), Stefke – Banser (88′ Luck)
Score summary
10′ Binsker 0-1
52′ Kukulies 1-1
70′ Kopp
Attendance
600 (only those counted who paid seperately, 1. FC Magdeburg season ticket holders have free admission to all U23, U19 and U17 matches)
