After winning a point in Bochum: “Relegation is our championship” – Darmstadt doesn’t give up

As of: April 1, 2024 6:45 p.m

The draw in Bochum was good for the Lilien-Soul, but the team is still stagnating in the table. Before the basement duel in Mainz, the people of Darmstadt are encouraging themselves.

Celebrating Torsten Lieberknecht doesn’t want to give up. In his 100th competitive game in the coaching bench of SV Darmstadt 98, his lilies made an impressive comeback – but it wasn’t enough to win with a 2-2 draw at VfL Bochum. “Achieving relegation is our championship. Now we play against Mainz, where we want to take the chance to move closer with this one point,” said Lieberknecht late on Sunday evening.

In Bochum, the South Hesse team remained without a win for the 20th time in a row. With the team still six points behind the relegation place, the promoted team’s quick return to the 2nd league is getting closer and closer. The guest game at FSV Mainz 05 next Saturday (3:30 p.m.) is actually something of an early final. If Darmstadt loses, the relegation place would already be nine points away six game days before the end of the season.

Team “intact”

“Now the games are getting fewer and we need points, that’s clear. But today we’ll take the point with us on the bus and back to Darmstadt,” said Marcel Schuhen. From 0:2 to 2:2: The goalkeeper’s performance and morale in Bochum gave him courage for the coming weeks. “We carried on and turned things around almost completely. That shows how intact the team is. We’re building on that,” added Schuhen.

The division of points after Bochum’s two-goal lead by Philipp Hofmann (29th/48th minute) and the visitors’ goals by Tim Skarke (62nd minute) and Oscar Vilhemsson (76th) in front of 25,023 spectators was also good for the game VfL Bochum hardly acts as an encouragement for the fight to stay in the league. After four recent defeats, coach Thomas Letsch’s team missed the chance to expand the gap to 16th place to a comfortable eight points.

The last league win was almost six months ago

Things are getting tighter for Darmstadt. The guest games against rivals Mainz and Cologne as well as the home games against Freiburg and Heidenheim must now bring victories, otherwise they will go straight back to league two. “If we had lost, it would have been very unpleasant. So we have to be satisfied with the point,” said Schuhen. Almost half a year has now passed since Hesse’s last Bundesliga victory on October 7th.

Now several would have to be produced in series. Four wins from seven games should be the absolute minimum to avoid relegation. 15th place seems out of reach anyway. “Overall, we’re still going out with a positive feeling. A team that doesn’t believe in itself won’t come back here today,” said Christoph Klarer.