Teams from Munich seem to be good for Magdeburg as all of their points so far this season come from the three games against them.

It came with a huge sigh of relief, this second win of the season. It propelled Magdeburg from bottom place to 18th in the table and just one point behind the non-relegation zone, in other words, above the drop zone. All seven points the Club have gathered so far this season came against teams from Munich. The first point was away at 1860 Munich back in September. Magdeburg, playing in their black away dress, took the lead after 56 minutes and held on for twenty minutes, when a deflected shot hit the back of the net.

Back then a pattern began to emerge that has solidified itself over the following weeks. Magdeburg played decent or rather well but ran out of steam around the hour mark or after 70 minutes. Admittedly, this was not in evidence in the following games after this match in Munich. Two defeats followed, at home against Viktoria Köln (0:2) and away at Dresden (0:1), which created an atmosphere of fear and trepidation among supporters. Calls to cull the coach Thomas Hoßmang grew on a daily basis and increasingly turned towards the managing director, Mario Kallnik.

Relief: Türkgücü

There was an air of relief as the first victory of the season was recorded against Türkgücü München in mid-October. By then, they were 4 points in the good. The match gave hope as the visitors gave them a good game and had plenty of chances to take the three points with them. Albeit they did not and hope made a stop at the banks of the river Elbe. It was nothing more than a pit stop as three defeats followed during which Magdeburg woke up too late (Verl) or were depleted after 60-65 minutes (Wiesbaden and Mannheim). The latter, away at Mannheim was not a bad performance at all; twice the blue and whites fell behind, twice they came back and had the chance to make it 3:2 after 60 minutes. This was a game that showed that they could dig in their heels and put up some resistance, alas all in vain as three more goals came the wrong way.

The Last Straw?

Early November and Magdeburg were bottom of the table with the back pinned to the wall. A win was needed to calm the supporters, to steady the ship. A week of almost total silence followed the away game at Mannheim. Of course, there were speculations and rumours.

A new sporting director? Who could it be? What has he achieved?
A new coach? Who?!

The environment was nervous, very nervous indeed and logically the game against the reserve of Bayern München was the last chance for the coach. Last season Magdeburg gave away a two goal lead in the final minutes of the game, thus delaying reaching security. Bayern on the other hand were champions of the third division but it was a Pyrrhic victory as reserve teams are not allowed to be promoted.

The game did not begin well; the first half was a dead rubber. Magdeburg were eager but had lead in their shoes and fear commanding their play while Munich were hardly in the game at all and too rare showed their class and potential.

Fears grew as it was 0:0 at the interval and the 60th minute approached. This time though something was different. Magdeburg made it 1:0 after 49 minutes and 2:0 at the hour mark, normally the point when they switch off. Not this time. What followed were anxious 30 minutes during which Sliskovic had the chance to make it three and thus bury the game. Alas, the post was in the way.

It was a bit jittery at the end as Bayern 2 scored from the spot to half the deficit. It was not enough, their effort came too late and was symptomatic for their performance.

It was the third game against a team from Munich, and the tally stands at seven. This, after nine matches is not enough.

A change, many changes have still to come.