A bitter pill for Schalke to Schwolow
A goalkeeping mistake from Alexander Schwolow helped his parent side overcome Schalke to gain their first home win of the campaign. Schalke are left rooted to the bottom of the league with one win all season.
To end matchday 11 the Olympiastadion would host the visit of managerless Schalke. Frank Kramer departed the club due to their poor start to the season, as well as their embarrassing display against Hoffenheim in the Pokal during the week. Die Königsblauen were on the hunt for their first away win of the season. As for Hertha, the aim was simple; end a run of five games without victory. As well as this, win at home for the first time this campaign.
A lively opening few minutes to the game saw Wilfried Kanga draw Alexander Scwolow called into action with a strike straight at the Schalke shot-stopper. This was just before a Dominik Drexler strike found the side netting to deny the visitors their first league goal since the start of the month.
Schalke thought they had broken the deadlock on the quarter of an hour mark with what would have been a contender for goal of the season. Can Aydin whipped a ball into Marius Bulter who volleyed the ball on his instep. A rocket that fired into the top corner. However, Bulter was judged to have been offside in the buildup to the anguish of Die Königsblauen, but to the delight of Hertha.
Bulter had the ball in the back of the net just five minutes later. Despite thinking this was a clearer decision from when the flag went up, replays had shown the final touch came off a Hertha man. However, a foul in the build-up was enough for VAR to confirm a foul in the build-up to frustrate Schalke once again.
As the first half went on chances for either side dried up, and the half-time whistle saw the half finish as it started; goalless. Schalke may have felt hard done by with the VAR decisions, whereas Hertha would have seen this as fifteen minutes to regroup and go again to the side joint bottom of the league.
Regroup and go again was exactly what the hosts decided to do. Three minutes into the second half Lucas Tousart found himself in enough space to strike the ball unchallenged from distance. A strike that looked as though it would be a routine save for Alexander Schwolow managed to slip through his fingers to trickle into the back of the net. The goalkeeper on loan from Hertha giving his parent club a significant favour.
The second half would fade similar to that of the first half. That was until the 85th minute when the Schalke changes managed to link up to create a goal worthy of earning a point. Sebastian Potler, who had just gone close to levelling the tie himself, helped the ball onto Florent Mollet. His sweet strike took a deflection to help blast past Oliver Christensen in goal.
When Schalke had finally thought they had found the goal to earn the point they felt they would have deserved. Wilfried Kanga found space in behind the Schalke back line. A well-timed pass from Stevan Jovetic placed Kanga in on goal and he calmly found the bottom corner to get his first goal of the campaign despite having 17 shots this season.
The 2-1 defeat cements Schalke to the bottom of the table to make their Bundesliga campaign seem as bleak as when they were relegated two seasons ago. As for Hertha the 3 points may prove to be pivotal in their hunt for survival as they climb to 13th in the league.