Starbulls Rosenheim beat Regensburg 4:1 in the DEL2 on Friday evening, a result that defied the table hierarchy. The hosts, sitting 11th after six games, took all three points from the second-placed visitors. And here's the thing — this wasn't a match that looked likely on paper.
By then, of course, the scoreboard told a different story. The home side opened the scoring early and never looked back, stringing together goals that kept Regensburg chasing shadows. To be fair, the visitors had shown attacking intent in recent outings, but against Rosenheim's structure, they found the net just once. The visitors' record of four wins in six games meant little once the opening exchanges were done.
We had backed the home side at 57 per cent confidence, and the game confirmed that reading. Not through luck, but through a team that got their positioning right and punished Regensburg's tendency to get dragged out of position. The visitors had nothing to do with the first goal and struggled to regain any rhythm after conceding. By then, the momentum had shifted completely.
Regensburg sit second with four wins from six, while Rosenheim remain 11th with two victories. The gap between them on the table is substantial, yet on this evening, the result said something else entirely. The home side's recent form — loss, win, loss, win — suggested a team finding its feet, and this performance backed that up.
The visitors' last five matches read loss, win, win, win, loss, a pattern that showed inconsistency even in victory. Three of those games featured high-scoring affairs, yet against Rosenheim on Friday, they could muster just a single response. The home side carried the side through the opening period and never let up.
What the result means for the standings: Rosenheim move into the bottom half with a result that feels more significant than the points tally suggests. Regensburg drop from top spot in spirit if not in position, having failed to convert dominance into a comfortable win. The table goes out of the window in these games, and tonight proved it.
