Dormagen Bayer saw off Essen 28:26 in the Second Bundesliga on Thursday evening, a result that keeps the hosts' unbeaten run intact while extending the visitors' winless streak. The match, played at home for the 15th-placed side, ended with a narrow margin that reflected the tension throughout. To be fair, neither team delivered anything spectacular, but that rarely happens when two bottom-half sides meet.
Dormagen had gone into the fixture with just one victory from four games, sitting on two points after three draws. Essen were worse off, sitting 17th with only a single point from four outings and one defeat already on their record. By then you could sense the pressure on both benches, especially with recent form offering little comfort.
The visitors had dropped points in three of their last four encounters, including a heavy 26:42 loss to Elbfloranz just a week earlier. Dormagen's previous result was a 25:29 defeat against En-Lübbeke, so evening that scoreline felt like the immediate target. And here's the thing — we had backed the home side to prevail, giving them 54 per cent confidence before kick-off. The prediction held up, though nothing about this performance suggested it would be straightforward.
What mattered was the finish. Twenty-eight goals to twenty-six does not look like a thriller on paper, but the gap between the sides never widened beyond a single digit. Essen pushed hard enough to keep things respectable, but Dormagen's defence held firm when it needed to. The away end never stopped making noise, even if it could not find a breakthrough.
For Dormagen, this moves them to three points from four matches, still rooted near the bottom but showing they can compete. Essen remain on one point and now carry two consecutive losses, a dangerous pattern at this stage. The table does not lie — and right now, the hosts have drawn level with several sides above them in points.