Well it was a fine sunny autumnal day that greeted Borussia Mönchengladbach to the capital to face Hertha on match day eleven of the Bundesliga. I for one approached the ground with a sunny disposition after spending the morning walking along the Spree enjoying the autumn colours. The fine weather made it easy to forget that it was also Halloween and there were horrors yet to unfold on this day.
As you can see from some of the photos below it was a great afternoon for football with it warm enough for me to be wearing just jeans with my Hertha shirt and scarf (up until the first half at least). The game however didn’t go quite to plan with Hertha making unfortunate mistakes and only keeping 42% of the possession. The price was paid after one save from Jarstein was followed up by another shot that he couldn’t get to and Langkamp couldn’t touch for risk of knocking it in himself. Sadly, just two minutes later Per Skjelbred lost possession and the resultant shot picked up a slight but cruel deflection into the back of the net. Then, to add injury to discomfort, Salomon Kalou who had a few attempts at goal was hit on the temple by a bullet of a ball to leave the field with what turned out to be mild concussion just before half time. With two goals conceded in two minutes and our striker leaving the pitch covered in blood all before half time, this was starting to live up to the Halloween billing!
The second half only slightly deviated from the “nightmare on Herthastraße” theme with a slight pullback from Sebastian Langkamp resulting in a yellow card and a penalty which swiftly converted into a 0:3 lead. At the other end Alexander Baumjohann was pulled and tripped in the box giving Hertha a penalty this time. Baumi feinted to the right and slotted it high into the back of the net. For a few minutes we thought we had a slight chance but it wasn’t to be and the extra time fourth goal for Gladbach added insult to injury and concluded the Halloween horror.
In just six days’ time we go to meet Hannover ’96 in match day 12 so there is little time to dwell on Halloween and equally little time to recuperate and regroup for that key away game with H’96 fresh from a 2:1 away win at HSV. Onwards and upwards Ha Ho He!
Here are a just few photos of the day and a video showing the support from the Ultras and the Ostkurve.
As you can see from some of the photos below it was a great afternoon for football with it warm enough for me to be wearing just jeans with my Hertha shirt and scarf (up until the first half at least). The game however didn’t go quite to plan with Hertha making unfortunate mistakes and only keeping 42% of the possession. The price was paid after one save from Jarstein was followed up by another shot that he couldn’t get to and Langkamp couldn’t touch for risk of knocking it in himself. Sadly, just two minutes later Per Skjelbred lost possession and the resultant shot picked up a slight but cruel deflection into the back of the net. Then, to add injury to discomfort, Salomon Kalou who had a few attempts at goal was hit on the temple by a bullet of a ball to leave the field with what turned out to be mild concussion just before half time. With two goals conceded in two minutes and our striker leaving the pitch covered in blood all before half time, this was starting to live up to the Halloween billing!
The second half only slightly deviated from the “nightmare on Herthastraße” theme with a slight pullback from Sebastian Langkamp resulting in a yellow card and a penalty which swiftly converted into a 0:3 lead. At the other end Alexander Baumjohann was pulled and tripped in the box giving Hertha a penalty this time. Baumi feinted to the right and slotted it high into the back of the net. For a few minutes we thought we had a slight chance but it wasn’t to be and the extra time fourth goal for Gladbach added insult to injury and concluded the Halloween horror.
In just six days’ time we go to meet Hannover ’96 in match day 12 so there is little time to dwell on Halloween and equally little time to recuperate and regroup for that key away game with H’96 fresh from a 2:1 away win at HSV. Onwards and upwards Ha Ho He!
Here are a just few photos of the day and a video showing the support from the Ultras and the Ostkurve.
The Ostkurve in fine voice just before the teams emerged
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