Leipzig (dpa) -
Energie devastated
Timmy Thiele wept unrestrainedly for several minutes, coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz strolled through the rain in the Cottbus stadium with his head down. At least the defiance returned at some point and the team said goodbye to the season with a poster: "Always forward, Energie". Completely unnecessarily too early, as the chance to secure third place in the relegation play-offs was there for a long time before the team ran into FC Ingolstadt's counterattack and ultimately lost 4-1. Qualifying for the DFB Cup in fourth place was little consolation.
"We're a damn great team and we've achieved great things, but unfortunately not the really big ones," said Thiele on ARD. "It hurts now, it will hurt for a few more days, but then we'll get back on track," said the Lusatians' top attacker.
"We're sad that we didn't get these two games. But it's also part of sport to accept defeats and deal with them accordingly," said Wollitz. The pride of only narrowly missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga 2 is yet to come. In any case, Energie was an enrichment for the league. A team that gave the established teams a fright. But also a team that showed a lack of experience and cleverness in crucial phases, such as against Ingolstadt.