week 11 - match report

Determined Royal Blues win 2-0 in Gladbach

Head coach Mirko Slomka was visibly delighted when he analysed his side's deserved 2-0 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach last night: "It was an important game for the team and the club. I'm very happy to come away with the three points."

The Schalke boss made just one change to the side that had drawn with Bayern Munich three days earlier, replacing injured skipper Marcelo Bordon with Christian Pander, who slotted in at left-back, allowing Dario Rodriguez to return to the centre of defence.

In the first half the Royal Blues looked to get forward at every opportunity, constantly searching for gaps in a very inexperienced Gladbach rearguard. And they got their reward on eleven minutes. There was an element of luck about the goal, however, as Gladbach's defensive organiser Ze Antonio deflected Halil Altintop's shot into his own net. Schalke looked sharp in attack, while the defence restricted the home side to shots from distance that did not pose a problem for keeper Manuel Neuer. With the Royal Blues determined in the challenge and always striving to get the ball forward, it was not undeserved when Gustavo Varela added a second on 31 minutes.

"We were extremely aggressive in the tackle, had three strong-running strikers and won a lot of balls in midfield with which to launch attacks", said Slomka, clearly delighted with his team's performance. His counterpart Jupp Heynckes said his side had "conceded a very strange goal very early on from which we were unable to recover in the manner we might have expected."

The home side were unable to create a single genuine opportunity in the second half, especially with Neuer putting in a very composed performance in the Schalke goal. Yet after conceding goals at the beginning of the second half in Stuttgart and at home to Bayern, the Royal Blues initially adopted a cautious approach. "Some of our players will definitely have had a few worries in the back of their mind", said Slomka. "But once we'd settled we launched a couple of dangerous attacks that could well have produced a third goal." The best opportunities fell to Halil Altintop, who either shot just wide (61') or was denied by Kasey Keller in the Gladbach goal (90'). But that was not going to prevent the Royal Blues from celebrating in front of the travelling fans after the final whistle.

Besides the three points Schalke also garnered a compliment from former coach Jupp Heynckes: "Games are won via the defence. In Frankfurt we played better in that area. But Schalke are of a different calibre. Today it was clear they have a team with ambitions of winning the league."

Borussia: Keller - Levels, Rubink (Flessers 46'), Ze Antonio, Compper - Thijs, Polanski - Kluge (Degen 67'), Delura (Sonck 78') - Neuville, Sverkos

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Pander (Boenisch 73'), Krstajic, Rodriguez - Varela (Hamit Altintop 69'), Bajramovic (Hoogland 89'), Kobiashvili - Halil Altintop, Kuranyi, Lovenkrands

Goals: 0-1 Ze Antonio (own goal 11'), 0-2 Varela (31')

Attendance: 52,018

Referee: Peter Sippel

Yellow cards: Polanski, Compper - Bajramovic, Kuranyi