Dominant friendly win in Ludwigsfelde

Sandro Schwarz set up the team in a 4-2-3-1 formation in Ludwigsfelde. Tjark Ernst took his place in goal, while Derry Scherhant also started. Stevan Jovetić, Jessic Ngankam, Dodi Lukébakio, Jonjoe Kenny, Jean-Paul Boëtius (muscular problems), Myziane Maolida, Prince Boateng (knee problems) as well as Maximilian Mittelstädt and Marvin Plattenhardt (adductor problems) missed the game due to injury.

Scherhant opens the scoring, Ejuke and Richter add to the scoreline

So that all the fans present could be in the ground for kick off, the start was delayed by ten minutes. The first action of note was an attentive Filip Uremović clearing the ball after a threatening Ludwigsfelder attack (7’). The first chance of the game belonged to Davie Selke, who fired narrowly wide from a tight angle (10’). Marco Richter also just missed from a similar position after 12 minutes. After a good first fifteen minutes  Hertha finally took the lead, with Scherhant finishing off an attack down the left with a flat shot from the centre of the box. Schwarz was forced into a change after 22 minutes, with Márton Dárdai coming on for the injured Peter Pekarík. Five minutes later, and Selke missed once again, this time by the barest of margins, hitting the side netting. In the 34th minute, Chidera Ejuke doubled the lead, hitting a controlled effort into the bottom right-hand corner. Richter had been lively, and was rewarded with a goal shortly before half time as he tucked home a Selke cut-back from close range (42’). Hertha went into the break 3-0 up after a dominant performance.

Schwarz’s substitutes make a goal-scoring impact

Hertha’s head coach brought on five fresh players at half time, with two of them making a near immediate impact! Dongjun Lee scored from close range after 50 minutes, with Wilfried Kanga extending the lead to 5-0 only a couple of minutes later, with the forward breaking through in the middle before cooling rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home. The Blue-Whites were clearly enjoying their football in the second half. Scherhant headed a Dárdai cross onto the roof of the net (62’), Lee shot narrowly wide twice (65’, 74’), Kanga back heeled straight at the LFC ‘keeper (75’). The hosts’ goalkeeper also did well to save an effort from Richter (81’) and even saved a Lee penalty in the 86th minute.

“We moved well, let the ball do our running for us and created so many opportunities in the final third. We still could have scored a goal or two more but the game was still a good way to round off a good week of training,” stated Schwarz, clearly pleased all things considered. Hertha travel to Hannover on 2nd December for their next friendly, taking on Hannover 96 at 15:00 CET.

Hertha BSC: Ernst – Pekarík (22‘ Dárdai), Uremović (46‘ Rogel), Kempf, Zeefuik – Tousart (C) (46‘ Šunjić), Serdar (46‘ Darida) – Scherhant, Richter, Ejuke (46‘ Lee) – Selke (46‘ Kanga)

Goals: 1-0 Scherhant (16‘), 2-0 Ejuke (34‘), 3-0 Richter (42‘), 4-0 Lee (50‘), 5-0 Kanga (52‘)

Referee: Hannes Wilke

Attendance: 2.500