The three way fight for the Regionalliga title has turned into a three way fight for second place - and right in the middle of it is our second team who could not keep up with Viktoria Köln in the deciding stage of the season. Viktoria Köln were confirmed as Champions last weekend.

Daniel Farke's boys will have to compete with Rot-Weiß Oberhausen and the Borussia Mönchengladbach U23 team from a distance, so that they can finish this season that was going so well for them for such a long time in second place. The team was in exactly this league position after the 0-0 away draw to SC Verl - one point ahead of their two rivals, who however both still had a game in hand when this magazine was going to print.

Our second team has only won one game in the last nine matches - the goalless draw in Verl was the fifth draw in a row, but it was also the most unnecessary one of them all. Daniel Farke summarised the very one-sided 90 minutes where the action was aimed nearly exclusively at the host's goal: "we had enough chances to win three games". But despite being totally in control, giving an excellent perfomance and a multitude of clear chances on goal, they did not manage to put the ball into the net.

The Head Coach weighed it up as follows: "somehow in the end we lacked that clinical finish, concentration or quality. Apart from that I can't say anything against anyone, especially as the boys also played really well at the back and they didn't let Verl get a single shot in on goal. Apart from not taking advantage of their chances, this was an absolute top performance." Hamadi Al Ghaddioui (at his old stomping ground) and Jonas Arweiler both went very close when they both got strong headers in and only hit the woodwork. 

Our second team still has three games ahead of them before they go into the summer break. They play Aachen (this Sunday) and Gladbach II (13. May) at home and this is followed by the final derby away to FC Schalke on the 20. May. Dominik Reimann will probably play his last game in goal for Borussia against Alemannia: he looks likely to be called up for the U20 World Cup in South Korea. Things also look good for Jonas Arweiler. DFB Head Coach Guido Streichsbier will announce his final squad on the 8. May. Udo Stark