ENERGIE COTTBUS (Stadion der Freundschaft)

3.LIGA, ENERGIE COTTBUS 1-2 HOLSTEIN KIEL, ATTENDANCE: 5,122

An early morning train took me cross country, to the old East Germany, to the Brandenburg city of Cottbus. Upon arrival in the city it is noticeable that all the signs are bilingual.

As the city is only 25km from the border with Poland I mistakenly thought is may be Polish, however I actually discovered it was Lower Sorbian, a Slavic minority language spoken in eastern Germany, but mainly spoken in and around Cottbus.

The 13th century Spremberg Tower provides
superb views over the city. If you look closely you can
see the floodlights poking out from behind the trees.

Energie Cottbus were founded in 1966, but like most of the old East German clubs their genesis was a series of mergers, takeovers and movement of players for political and/or sporting reasons.

The club hasn't had an illustrious history to speak of, their solitary title being a Regionalliga championship in 1997.

The did reach the Bundesliga at the turn of the millennium, staying for three seasons, and also had another three season spell between 2006 and 2009. The club do hold a footnote in Bundesliga history as they were the first side to field an all foreign team (versus Wolfsburg) in April 2001.

The club play their games at the Stadion der Freundschaft, which was opened in 1930 as the Städtische Stadion and was given it's present name in 1950. It became the home of Energie Cottbus in the late 1970's and the club eventually bought the stadium in 2011.

Tonight FC Energie were hosting Holstein Kiel, only a 960km midweek round trip for their fans, so hats off to the 60 or so hardy souls that made the journey east.

Cottbus had not won in seven games, and had sacked their coach Stefan Kräme on Sunday, so it came as no surprise when Kiel took the lead after Raphael Lewerentz (16) was sent clear to fire home.

Cottbus though came out firing for the second half and were level after Joni Kauko (50) bundled home after the Kiel goalkeeper dropped a cross.

However, their joy was shortlived as Dominik Schmidt (54) headed home to put the visitors back in front.

Kiel soaked up the late pressure as Cottbus pushed for an equaliser, but they held on for the victory.