FC beaten by Verl

The game couldn’t have started in a more disappointing fashion for Gerhard Struber’s side. Two mistakes at the back were punished ruthlessly. A loose pass was gathered up by Verl and Berkan Taz played in Lars Lokotsch to finish cooly from 12 yards. In the 12^th minute, a long throw-in wasn’t dealt with by the FC defence and Tom Baack fired home.

FC finally got into gear and responded with a goal of their own in the 18^th minute. Denis Huseinbašić picked out the run of Tim Lemperle, and he managed to find the space between the legs of the oncoming Fabian Pekruhl to reduce the deficit.

The second-half saw FC make four changes at the very start, as Mikail Özkan, Emin Kujovic, Oliver Schmitt and Imad Rondić replaced Neo Telle, Dejan Ljubičić, Florian Kainz and Tim Lemperle.

Justin von der Hitz also made his first appearance for the first-team as he replaced Marvin Obuz on the hour mark. The best chances of the second-half came through Luca Waldschmidt’s free-kicks, which arrowed over the crossbar. Imad Rondić almost grabbed an equaliser, only to be denied well by Fabian Pekruhl.

FC return to action on Saturday, 29^th March at 13:00 CET against SC Paderborn.

1. FC Köln (4-4-2): Racioppi – Schmied, Hübers, Telle (Özkan 46’), Finkgräfe – Obuz (von der Hitz 60’), Huseinbasic, Ljubicic (Kujovic 46’), Kainz (Schmitt 46’) – Lemperle (Rondić 46’), Waldschmidt.

Goals: 0:1, Lokotsch 6’. 0:2, Baack 12’. 1:2, Lemperle 18’.