SV Werder Bremen celebrated a 2-1 win in their second pre-season friendly against Coventry City. A total of 11,301 spectators were on hand at the Coventry Building Society Arena to watch the match, the second of the day between the two clubs. The Green-Whites took an early lead through Keke Topp (5’) before being pegged back by Jack Rudoni (28’). The closing stages of the game saw Marvin Ducksch score the winner for Werder (85’), as the match ended 2-1.
Line up and formation: Head coach Ole Werner sent out a completely new team for Werder’s second friendly of the day in Coventry. Niklas Stark wore the captain’s armband as Wesley Adeh and Levi Wagner were named on the bench. The Green-Whites started in their usual formation, with a back-three and two strikers, as Marvin Ducksch and Keke Topp led the line.
Starting line-up: Zetterer - Jung, Stark, Stage, Ducksch, Weiser, Veljkovic, Lynen, Schmid, Agu und Topp.
First-half highlights:
4th minute: The first chance of the afternoon falls to SVW! Stage and Ducksch combine cleverly in the centre of the park, with the latter able to get off a powerful shot from just inside the area. Coventry’s Oliver Dovin is equal to it, however, parrying it over the bar.
5th minute: Werder take the lead from the resulting corner! Ducksch delivers an inswinging corner to the near post, where Topp is able to head it into the back of the net
29th minute: Coventry equalise. Stage slips while attempting to clear the ball, allowing Rudoni the space to slip into the box. Stark and Veljkovic are slow to close him down, allowing the Coventry midfielder to slot the ball into the right corner.
36th minute: Another chance for Werder! Weiser lays the ball to Ducksch, who has his shot blocked before the ball falls to Schmid. The midfielder picks out Stage with a clever cross, but his shot sails just wide of the target.
42nd minute: Another dangerous corner from Ducksch finds Stage in the middle of the box. His header isn’t precise enough to beat Dovin, however.
Second-half highlights:
55th minute: A nice move! Ducksch dummies the ball and it allows Agu to run on to it. The left-back is in lots of space and has time to shift the ball onto his right foot. His cross finds the unmarked Schmid at the back post, but he can’t get enough on his header to trouble Dovin.
61st minute: Jung can only head a cross to the edge of the box to Sakamoto. He fires the ball wide on his left foot.
71st minute: Weiser comes back onto his left foot just outside the box and pulls the trigger. His shot is caught by Dovin.
85th minute: Topp chips a ball behind the defence for Stage and he unselfishly heads it across the goal for Ducksch. SVW’s top goalscorer last season slots home to secure the victory.
90th minute +3: Full time. SV Werder deservedly win 2-1 at Coventry City.
Summary: SV Werder started really brightly and were aggressive without the ball. That meant that it was a deserved lead when Keke Topp opened the scoring. The hosts improved midway through the first half. Marvin Ducksch finished off a nice move to deservedly win it late on.
Coventry City: Dovin - Binks (85’ Dasilva), Thomas, Rudoni, Sakamoto (76’ van Ewijk), Allen, Simms (61’ Thomas-Asante), Bidwell (85’ Kitching), Latibeaudiere (76’ Wright), Torp (61’ Eccles), Palmer (61’ Mason-Clark)
SV Werder: Zetterer - Veljkovic, Stark, Jung - Weiser, Lynen, Agu - Schmid (83’ Adeh), Stage - Ducksch, Topp
Goals: 0-1 Topp (5’), 1-1 Rudoni (29’), 1-2 Ducksch (85’)
Referee: Lewis Smith
Attendance: 11,301
