Ulm

Mascot Fonsi, as the red and blue tiger is called in memory of the former Unterhachinger goalscorer Alfonso Garcia, danced wildly across the soccer field – a mature performance at an estimated 50 degrees, which it must have had under the cloth costume. As on Sunday eight days ago in the DFB Cup game against FC Augsburg (2-0), the SpVgg stadium almost flew away from the enthusiasm of the home supporters in the third division game against co-promoted SSV Ulm in added time – even if only 3750 spectators this time were there and not 12,500 like last time.

While club president Manfred Schwabl gave up a sprint for celebration on Saturday so as not to subject his somewhat rusty muscles to an endurance test again, and instead dared to dance with a ball boy who seemed a bit overwhelmed, everything revolved around Patrick Hobsch. The 28-year-old not only scored the 2-2 equalizer in the 79th minute with a side kick worth seeing, but also secured victory in the sixth minute of added time by taking a cross from Sebastian Maier when his opponent from Ulm took the ball passed and pushed the ball over the line. “I’m overjoyed,” said the match winner afterwards, it was “amazing” that the ball “fell at his feet” so late. “And I’m here to shoot one like that.”

Hobsch’s goal was the final punchline on that red-hot afternoon in this stadium, which is increasingly becoming a kind of adventure world. Ulm had got off to a better start before, but when they scored the opening goal they received help from Haching’s Austrian signing Raphael Schifferl, who sent a cross from Bastian Allgeier into his own net (11′). SpVgg coach Marc Unterberger used the first drinking break after a good 20 minutes to realign his team tactically: “We switched to man-to-man pressing, then we had control of the game,” said the coach. And his Ulm opposite number, Thomas Wörle, agreed: “Hachinger’s pressing was one of the decisive factors in the game, we then had shorter phases of possession, and that’s noticeable at these temperatures.”

The Red-Blues equalized in the 40th minute, Markus Schwabl’s shot refined by Mathias Fetsch with a minimal change of direction. But in the seven-minute stoppage time, referee Robin Braun awarded the Spatzen a dubious penalty, which Hachings captain Josef Welzmüller described as “very unlucky”, coach Unterberger as a “little blow to the neck” and Hobsch as a “joke”. SSV captain Johannes Reichert converted it to 1:2 (45+7).

“Everyone in the stadium knew that if we made it 2-2, we could do better,” said Hobsch

Unterberger brought on his two top talents, Boipelo Mashigo and Maurice Krattenmacher, in the second half, but it wasn’t until the drinking break in the middle of the half that the hosts got back on track and created a number of chances. After Hobsch’s remarkable equalizer, which Schwabl had prepared again, the people from Haching wanted more. The coaching team even encouraged the spectators in the grandstand to keep cheering them on. And like against Augsburg, the spark jumped over to the pitch. Simon Skarlatidis hit the crossbar with a brilliant shot (87′), followed by Hobsch’s late game-winning action. “Everyone in the stadium knew: if we make it 2-2, we can do even more,” said the double goalscorer later.

Marc Unterberger classified the success as a “victory of experience”, which this time was attributable to the offensive actions of the routines Schwabl, Fetsch and Hobsch, after the 19-year-old Aaron Keller scored the 1-1 in Regensburg and saved the 20th minute against Augsburg -year-old Mashigo had secured victory for good. “But in the end it’s about winning games and not about old or young,” said the SpVgg trainer. And that is difficult enough in the third division, which is why you have to mobilize everything again to be able to survive at SC Freiburg II on Wednesday: “We are happy and happy about how we started, but the stress factor is very high high.” At the moment, however, it is clearly positive stress.

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