S04 come from behind to beat Regensburg 2-1

Kaminski starts on his return

Head coach Dimitrios Grammozis made one change to the side that won 5-0 in Aue last time out. Marcin Kaminski replaced Malick Thiaw at centre-back. New signing Dong-gyeong Lee, who joined the club five days ago, wasn’t named in the 20-man squad.

Ouwejan free-kick hits the bar

The first good chances came for Schalke at the VELTINS-Arena. In the sixth minute, a quick break saw Blendi Idrizi spread the play out wide to Thomas Oujewan on the left. His cross towards Simon Terodde looked good, but Steve Breitkreuz got there just before the striker to clear for a corner. Two minutes later, Marcin Kaminski’s cross from midfield found Marvin Pieringer. He flicked on to Terodde, who had his effort blocked by goalkeeper Alexander Meyer. Grammozis was forced into his first change after just eight minutes, with Andreas Vindheim going off with a calf issue. He was replaced by Reinhold Ranftl.

The first 15 minutes belonged to the Royal Blues, though the hosts couldn’t break the deadlock. The closest they came was in the 14th minute when Thomas Ouwejan’s long-range free-kick looped over Meyer and crashed onto the crossbar.

Albers scores from distance

After an intense opening, the game became more even and the away side also had chances. Benedikt Gimber struck a shot wide from 20 yards out (24’), then Carlo Boukhalfa dragged one past the post (25’). Steve Breitkreuz also had a header go over the bar from a corner (28’).

04 minutes later, the away team took the lead. Andreas Albers’ shot from 25 yards out flew into the back of the net (32’). Despite a Sané header from an Ouwejan corner (38’) and Idrizi’s deflected strike wide (43’), Schalke couldn’t find an equaliser in the first half.

Boukhalfa hits the woodwork

S04 were aiming to get back in the game at the start of the second half, however they couldn’t create any real notable chances initially. The first opportunity was blown after a misunderstanding between Simon Terodde and Marcin Kaminski (47’), whilst Alexander Meyer parried a Reinhold Ranftl shot eight minutes later.

Schalke were somewhat fortunate to be only one goal behind shortly afterwards. Carlo Boukhalfa’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected wide by Victor Pálsson, then the midfielder hammered one off the bar 120 seconds later (62’).

Terodde and Thiaw turn the game around

Grammozis reacted to the deficit and made three changes, bringing on Darko Churlinov, Marius Bülter and Malick Thiaw. The equaliser came less than a minute later for the Knappen. A floated ball into the box from Marcin Kaminski was headed down by Marius Bülter to Terodde, and he stabbed home past Meyer to level it (63’).

Victor Pálsson came close to giving S04 the lead from another Ouwejan corner, before Malick Thiaw did just that five minutes later. This time, it was from an Ouwejan free-kick. Bülter headed it towards Thiaw and he found the back of the net from close range to make it 2-1.

Schalke remained compact at the death to keep Regensburg out, ensuring all three points remained in Gelsenkirchen.

Düsseldorf up next

S04’s next game is away to Fortuna Düsseldorf on Sunday (13/2) at 13:30 CET.