New head coach Oliver Glasner fielded a team featuring several first-team regulars, including Filip Kostic, Makoto Hasebe and Danny da Costa. Teenagers Diant Ramaj, Muhammed Damar, Ali Akman and Felix Irorere were also named in the starting XI, as was 21-year-old Uruguayan Rodrigo Zalazar, who spent last season on loan at second-division FC St. Pauli.
Barkok strikes first
The visitors started with a spring in their step and created several early openings, the best of which saw Johannes Wurtz fire straight at Ramaj with an acrobatic volley. Amin Farouk sent the rebound just wide, before Ragnar Ache went close at the other end with a low effort from the edge of the box.
The two teams continued to cancel each other out until Florian Carstens felled Akman inside the penalty area, giving Barkok the opportunity to open the scoring from the spot. Wiesbaden goalkeeper Florian Stritzel guessed the right way but was beaten by the power and precision of the 23-year-old’s effort.
Wiesbaden fight back
Ramaj and Damar were the only survivors from the first half as Glasner made nine changes at the interval, with Goncalo Paciencia, Dejan Joveljic and Timothy Chandler among those to be given a run-out. Wiesbaden started confidently once again, however, and equalised when Kevin Lankford drilled past Ramaj following a quickly taken free-kick.
The visitors completed the turnaround just two minutes later, Farouk sending a well-placed header beyond Ramaj to make it 2-1. The 17-year-old completed the scoring with 18 minutes remaining, rounding Ramaj before slotting into the unguarded net. The Eagles return to action next Saturday, when they take on Bundesliga 2 outfit SV Sandhausen.
SGE line-up
Ramaj - da Costa (46' Schröder), Irorere (46' Chandler), Ndicka (46' Otto), Kostic (46' Lenz) - Zalazar (46' Maurer), Hasebe (46' Hyryläinen), Damar - Barkok (46' Joveljic), Akman (46' Mehicevic) - Ache (46' Paciencia).
Goals
1-0 Barkok (pen. 33’)
1-1 Lankford (50’)
1-2 Farouk (52’)
1-3 Farouk (72’)
