Elversberg Beat Mainz 4-1 to Move Up to Fifth in Bundesliga on Debut Season

Elversberg beat Mainz 4-1 at the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde on Friday night, October 30, to move up to fifth place in the Bundesliga, at least for now. The game opened Matchday 8. It was another strong result for the newly promoted side in their first season in the top flight.

Elversberg built the win in the first half. Felix Keidel opened the scoring with a direct free-kick early on. Keidel is a recent Germany call-up. The goal came in the 7th minute and put the hosts in control. In the 26th minute, they struck again with only their second shot on goal. Francis Onyeka held off Paul Nebel too easily and shot home. Just before half-time, Maurice Krattenmacher guided the ball in with a composed finish after a corner. It was 3-0 at the break.

Cole Campbell added the fourth late in the game. Mainz did get a goal back almost at once from the restart. Sheraldo Becker cut the ball back from the byline after some loose defending, and Benedict Hollerbach bundled it over the line to make it 4-1. There was more drama at the end. Mainz defender Stefan Posch was shown a second yellow card in the 95th minute for a poor challenge, and he was sent off.

The result lifts Elversberg to 13 points from eight games, with four wins. The club is based in Saarland and comes from a town of about 13,000 people. Coach Vincent Wagner's team have had a fairytale start to life in the Bundesliga. Their form is a big story in German football this season.

It was also a quick bounce-back. Both teams had been knocked out of the German Cup second round on Tuesday by second-division sides. Elversberg lost 2-0 to Darmstadt. Three days later, they showed no hangover from that defeat.

For Mainz, it was another bad night. They are in eighth place on 10 points and have now lost three matches in a row in all competitions. Mainz will have to fix their early defending before their next game, because they were three goals down inside the first half.

Elversberg's position in fifth place is provisional, as the rest of the Matchday 8 games are still to be played. The result still puts them in a European qualification spot after the opening game of the weekend.