Wehen Wiesbaden 1-1 Preussen Munster, 3.liga (att. 3,916)
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| Welcome to ... |
An early season
promotion duel? Dunno, but with Wehen being
top of the table after 3 games and Preussen having narrowly missed out last
time, could be. Tiny Wehen are
confounding expectations though still not dragging in the fans, 3900 gathered
today, of which the best part of a thousand came from Munster. The stadium (think Glanford Park, but with
standing on metal terracing at either end) was a mere 10 minutes from the
railway station. Get off the train, turn
right at the main concourse and keep walking, past a fleet of policemen. With relatively meagre support, don’t pin
your hopes on following anyone. In fact,
when the crowd of 3,961 was announced, it actually got a cheer. At the
station I saw more Eintracht Frankfurt fans, heading for their home game with
Bayern Munich.
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| A Wehen fan weighed down by scarves. |
Once I'd bought my match ticket (in the home end), I had a nose around and came across the Helmut Schon Sportpark, next door. This athletics stadium had seen Wehen play here on occasion, though they were based in nearby Taunusstein. In the meantime, this was the ground of another Wiesbaden team, SV Wiesbaden. Anyway, the terraces still exist, so you can get a flavour...
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| Athletics adjoining football. |
After the death of a
thousand cuts that was watching Saarbrucken
yesterday,this was a much better game. Faster,
more skilful, more attacking. Preussen
looked an excellent outfit in the first half and then struggled to hold on. They also had some clever deadballs, with
dummies and movement which always ended with them getting a shot off (shame
about the shot). So after all the work
on the training pitch they went ahead in rudimentary fashion. The corner was lobbed straight in the box,
the keeper saved the header and the rebound was bundled over the line. One or two half chances then went begging and
Wehen hold on for nil-one at half time.
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| The Wehen ultras. |
Second half, the traffic
changed direction. Or technically
remained the same (it was the teams wot changed around). This was good for me, as the action continued
to be towards my end. Preussen barely
had a sniff as Wehen took the game to them, roared on by their 50-strong ultras
(average age: 15). The centre forward in
particular, strong, quick and able to dribble the ball looked their best hope
and he had a hand in the equaliser, drawing the defender than laying the ball
left for his mate to hit home from 12 yards.
Honours even, points shared.
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| The Preussen fans. |
At full time I was straight
out, via the ticket office. This was
another stadium which takes your bag off you, though there was plenty of space
inside. I even managed to make the 16:03 (this was a 2pm kick-off, btw). Fabulous.
Enough time to collect my bags in Frankfurt…. no panic on as with later
trains…..to find that my outward bound to Leipzig was 30 minutes late. Oh well.
The Damage:
€10 ent
€3 beer (x2)
€3 wurst
€2 glass deposit
= €21
The
Tunes:
Loss (Mull Historical Society)
Stick Around For Joy (Sugarcubes)
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| Ticket office |
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| Back of a stand. |
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| Enter here. |
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| Here, there...metal everywhere. |
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| Terracing in the Helmet Schon Sportpark next door. |
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| Welcome to ... |
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| Club shop wares. |
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| Metal overload...even the terracing. |
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| Looking towards the far end, pre-match. |
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| In the seats... |
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| Match action. |
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| More match action. |
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| The Main Stand. |
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| Today's crowd is ... |
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| A floodlight overlooks the scoreboard. |
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| The cheerleader takes a breather. |
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