Another Weekend for Just the Teams with Colors

Newcastle had this weekend off, so like a weekend back in February it was just the teams with colors this weekend – Oxford United’s colors being yellow and blue, Nurnberg’s being red and black. (Newcastle is black and white.) It was also a weekend for the sides that have the most to play for. Nurnberg of course have still been fighting relegation where as Oxford are doing the opposite – fighting for promotion.

FC Nurnberg vs. FC Kaiserslautern – Der Club were the first match on Saturday. The match started at 8:30 my time but I didn’t wake up with my alarm so I started watching the match about thirty minutes in. I was able to find a very decent live feed however. The play in the end of the first half was more back and forth than any match I had watched in a long time. There was barely any true defense. One team would take a shot at one end, the other team would get the ball from the rebound or from a goalie catch, and then the ball would go back to the other end for the same thing to happen. Kaiserslautern seemed to be throwing everything they could into the match, hoping to keep just a thread of hope alive against relegation for the season. While obviously not the greatest side in the Bundesliga this year, Nurnberg is better than they were playing. Luckily, they came out of the funk in the 43^rd minute to get a goal. A long pass was made up field which was flicked over to a very open Daniel Didavi. Didavi struck a nice laser beam type shot from outside the box, catching the Kaiserslautern keeper off guard, and going in for a 1-0 lead for Nurnberg.

The second half started out with a near leveler for Kaiserslautern, but Nurnberg’s goalie Raphael Schaefer kept out the shot with a last second full-stretch foot save. After that the match continued with much of the back and forth action from the first half. The play did settle down though as the legs tired, and that was when Nurnberg took greater control. In the 73^rd minute Der Club got their chance to go up 2-0. Daniel Didavi was on the ball again, taking a breakaway run with it into the box. Closing in on goal, he made a ground cross over to Tomas Pekhart who got the goal for the two goal lead. A short while later, in the 82^nd minute, Hanno Ballitsch nearly had a third goal for Nurnberg but his shot hit the bar. The game would end as a 2-0 Nurnberg win over Kaiserslautern.

After the rest of Saturday matches and Sunday’s matches were over, Nurnberg moved up a place from 12^th to 11^th place. More important than placing though is the points spread from them to relegation. Nurnberg now sits at 38 points. Cologne in 16^th (the relegation playoff spot) has 29 points. With only three games remaining, the worst case scenario would have Cologne catching up to Nurnberg on points. However, Nurnberg has such a greater goal differential than Cologne that Nurnberg would still be safe. That means no relegation for Nurnberg! Even better, Nurnberg currently sits closer to European play contention than they do to relegation. They’re just seven points down from 6^th (the final Europa League spot). It’s realistically too much ground to make up in just three games, but really, I’m more than happy just having Nurnberg safe from relegation.

Oxford United vs. Gillingham – The Yellows were looking to get a win over Gillingham to not only keep themselves in the promotion playoffs, but also to gain a buffer over 8^th place Crewe. Unfortunately, this game wouldn’t do that for them. In the grand scheme, it wouldn’t be negative for them either. The match would be a blah game with a blah result. Neither Oxford nor Gillingham could manage a goal. It wasn’t the worst match for shooting though, especially for the Yellows. Gillingham had seven shots with four being on goal, whereas Oxford did better with eleven total shots, seven of those on goal. Still as I mentioned, none of the shots taken in the match would make it past the keepers. The match would go down in a 0-0 draw.

Fortunately for Oxford, 8^th place Crewe also drew their match. Oxford and Crewe then still sit in 7^th and 8^th respectively at 67 points, with Oxford being nine higher in goal differential. Zooming out in the league table, Cheltenham Town sit four points higher in 6^th and Gillingham sit four points lower in 9^th. With just three games remaining, the situation is very tight. Oxford has one way to ensure their spot in the promotion playoffs – win.