Composed away win: Viktoria beat 1. FC Köln II 2:0

Sunshine over Cologne, 23 degrees and an artificial pitch at the Geißbockheim: on matchday 4 of the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga, FC Viktoria Berlin, in light blue, took on the white-clad U20 side of 1. FC Köln. The result was a comfortable 2:0 (2:0) victory, with which the team coached by Miren Ćatović confirmed its strong position in the table (4th place).

An early scare in the Viktoria goal

The opening turned into a shock: as early as the 4th minute, Hannah Etzold needed lengthy treatment. The goalkeeper picked herself up and carried on at first, but a few minutes later she could not continue – Melanie Wagner came on in her place.

Köln had slightly more of the ball in the period that followed, but kept giving it away through needless misplaced passes. From the 17th minute onwards, Viktoria were a constant presence around the Köln box without initially creating clear-cut chances. The first warning belonged to the hosts: in the 18th minute, Köln's striker let fly out of nowhere, the ball flashing just over the Berlin goal.

Yavuz sets it up, Meyer finishes!

Then Viktoria took charge. In the 25th minute, Senanur Yavuz beat several Köln players down the right and squared the ball low into the middle – Christin Meyer only had to tap it in, 1:0. Just a minute later, Melina Reuter had a clear run with only the Köln keeper to beat, but dragged her effort wide to the right.

In the 34th minute, the picture from the opening goal almost repeated itself, but this time Meyer was denied by the goalkeeper and Reuter struck the post with the rebound. The second goal had been coming for some time – and it arrived in the 38th minute: Sarah Stöckmann crossed into the middle, where Köln's centre-back and captain Maja Weber turned the ball unstoppably into her own net. Shortly before the break, Köln grew a little bolder, but created nothing of note. Viktoria went into the dressing room with a reassuring two-goal cushion.

Plenty of control, but no third goal

Viktoria stayed on the front foot after the restart and put the hosts under sustained pressure from the 49th minute onwards. Despite their broad superiority, however, the third goal would not come. In the 76th minute, Leni Fischer replaced Yavuz, and shortly afterwards Köln had one of their best openings of the second half down the left: the hosts worked their way neatly into the box but could not turn the ball home.

In the 83rd minute, Ćatović made a double change: Maja Wasiak and Kim Urbanek came on for Christin Meyer and Leyila Aydin. The only sour note followed in stoppage time, when captain Stöckmann was shown a second yellow card in the 90+2 minute for time-wasting. It made no difference to the result: Viktoria take three deserved points back from Cologne and can now turn their full attention to next Sunday's home fixture (6 September):

At home in the Stadion Lichterfelde, FC Viktoria Berlin host SV Meppen at 2 p.m.

Come along!

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Goals:

0:1 Meyer (25')

0:2 Weber (38', own goal)

Starting XI:

Etzold (8' Wagner) – Ihlenburg, Fürst, Reuter, Grincenco, Meyer (83' Wasiak), Krist, Stöckmann (C), Yavuz (76' Fischer), Aydin (83' Urbanek), Casanovas