Derby-Day Draw Disappoints

style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; font-weight: 600;"Mon 4th Mar, 2013

With the sun beating down on Munich from a cloudless sky I made my way with 24,000 others to the Allianz Arena. Fans of both 1860 and Ingolstadt were in a jovial mood with the underground packed and bouncing as a result of the dancing fans who were singing at the tops of their voices. After the obligatory Leberkäsesemmel from the press area (the best I've had in Munich) I made my way out to the stands just in time to see the teams taking to the field with the sounds of music ringing out around the stadium. Following a draw with Dynamo Dresden last week, Ingolstadt found themselves languishing in eleventh but with the opportunity to leapfrog 1860 into fifth with a win. With only two points separating the teams, there was no margin for error and both teams were aware that a loss would be disastrous.

After the unexpected but thoroughly deserved victory over Braunschweig last week, Schmidt opted to start with the same line-up. Ingolstadt boss Tomas Oral made two changes to his team, with Brazilian Caiuby starting on the left wing and last week's goal scorer Hartmann relegated to the bench in place of Eigler.
The signs were encouraging for 1860 early on as the entire team were passing the ball around confidently, biding their time and waiting for the right moment to spring an attack. Shortly before the half hour mark, the influential Lauth found himself in space down the right and with the most casual flick of his boot he guided a fantastic ball across the area for an onrushing Tomasov to score his first goal of the season. It was the first time 1860 have taken the lead in a match since returning from the winter break and they seemed unsure of what to do - should they push on for a second goal or protect the advantage they have? The first half fizzled out with Ingolstadt playing the better football and keeping the ball better than the hosts. That said, Kiraly had not been tested at all and the most work he had to do was try and prevent a corner from a speculative, deflected effort.

The second half began as a bitty affair, with players making silly fouls and this really stunted the fluidity of the game. After 66 minutes, a lapse in concentration allowed Ingolstadt to take a quick corner and fizz the ball in from the angle. A goalmouth scramble ensued and saw a theatrical shout for a penalty turned down. 1860 were on the back foot for the majority of the half and had to defend against wave after wave of Ingolstadt attack as clearances failed to find Friend and provide momentary respite.

There was a strong sense of inevitability when Eigler fired home after 80 minutes but it came about in rather odd circumstances. A mix up between Fathi and Kamara saw a powerful clearance rebound off Kamara's face and find the feet of Da Costa, who played a great ball to the front post for Eigler to finish with aplomb.
As the clock ticked towards full time, Ingolstadt were the only team who looked like scoring and they were almost successful as Da Costa's left-footed cross from the right eluded everyone and clattered against the post.

Unfortunately it was an all too familiar story for 1860 as they were unable to carry the fine form of last week into the following fixture. They looked completely at a loss having taken the lead and indecision crept into their play. Ingolstadt will leave Munich feeling they should have got more from the game but it is a point which I'm sure they would've taken, had it been offered at the start of the match. 1860 travel to struggling Sandhausen next week but with such little consistency, it's hard to predict what sort of performance they will give.

1860 München: Kiraly, Wojtkowiak, Bülow, Vallori, Fathi, Bierofka (Makos 68'), Stahl, Stoppelkamp (Wood 46'), Tomasov (Kamara 77'), Lauth, Friend

FC Ingolstadt: Özcan - Schäfer, Matip, Mijatovic, Da Costa - Caiuby, Roger, Groß (Korkmaz 76'), Heller - Micanski (Hartmann 60'), Eigler

Goals: 1-0 Tomasov (27'), 1-1 Eigler (79')

Referee: Christian Dietz
Attendance: 24,100 


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