The unusual decision to join a club in the division below your current club was seemingly working out well for Ruprecht Prusseit, who’d led Energie Cottbus to 18 wins in his first 19 league games in charge. That immediate success saw the Cottbus board move quickly to lock down their prized asset, handing Prusseit a £500 weekly wage increase until the end of the next season.
Prusseit’s big challenge now was keeping hold of his better players and leading Cottbus to the immediate promotion they deserved. Some players did leave, including left-back Mateus Brunetti who’d scored four penalties this season. But the key factor was keeping hold of his deadly strikeforce.
Targeting Another Regionalliga Title
The 2030s began with an OstDeutscher clash as Cottbus travelled to Berlin FC Dynamo. And they made a solid start to the decade as striker Eric Hottmann maintained his goal-per-game record to nick a 1-0 win. He scored again as his strike partner Stefen Tigges bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over struggling Wilmersdorf then Hottmann bagged four in a 5-2 thrashing of Rathenow to move to 20 league goals for the season.
That took the striker past Cottbus’ record for most goals in a season, beating the previous record of 28 set by Nils Petersen in 2010/11. He also now had the league’s record tally of 28, set by Alexander Schumacher in Prusseit’s previous season at this level, well within his striker. He scored two more as they dominated Carl Zeiss Jena 4-2, one as they defeated Viktoria 1889 2-0 and another brace in a 3-1 win at another East German rival Hallescher.
Hottmann equalled the record with the opener at home to Halberstadt before Tigges sealed a 3-1 win then broke it with two goals in a 3-1 win at Erzgebirge Aue. He’d now scored in 11 successive games, scoring 19 goals in the process!
As for Cottbus, they’d still only failed to win one game all season, were now on a 14-game winning streak, and had a 14-point lead over Dynamo Dresden with eight games remaining. The winning streak ended with their first draw of the season, a 0-0 at home to Rot-Weiß Erfurt in which Tigges picked up a serious hip injury. That meant he’d probably played his final game for the club.
Potential Title Bottle Job?
With seven games remaining, Cottbus had a 12-point lead over Dresden, meaning they needed three wins to claim the Regionalliga Nordost title.
Without Tigges, Prusseit decided to tweak the formation to drop an attacking midfielder in behind Hottmann. That worked nicely as they went to local rivals Chemnitzer and won 3-0 with goals from Hottmann, loanee Rasmus Jørgensen in the attacking midfield role and midfielder Dennis Carstens. But they suffered a surprise 1-1 draw at home to bottom-side TeBe Berlin.
That teed up a potential title decider as Cottbus made the trip to Prusseit’s hometown club Dresden, who are the only team to Cottbus and have beaten Prusseit in all three of his previous clashes with them. And that trend continued as Dresden came out flying and scored early as Cottbus played terribly, then held them off after the break to inflict a second defeat on their rivals. That cut the lead to seven points with four games remaining, and Prusseit was worried the loss of Tigges was really hurting them.
But they got back on track as a Hottmann brace inspired a 3-0 win over Berliner AK. Cottbus’ first chance to win the title came at Lokomotive Leipzig and they made a good start as a brilliant team move was finished off by loanee left-back Karl-Heinz Hesse then Hottmann bagged a brace before half time. Leipzig got a goal back with their only shot on target but Carstens finished it off.
Energie Cottbus were Regionalliga Nordost Champions!!
Prusseit rested the entire first 11 for the final home game, a fan day that saw over 13,000 people turn up and a young side still got a 1-1 with Plauen, then Hoffmann bagged two more in a 3-3 at Meuselwitz. They finished the season with new league records for the most wins (30) and most points (94) and won the league by six points from Dresden.
Hottmann was the league’s top scorer with 38 goals in 31 games and Tigges was third with 22. Winger Micael Sanhá also broke the league’s assists record with 24 followed by loaned winger Phil Hennig’s 13. Hoffmann also broke the league’s average rating record with 7.98 followed by Tigges’ 7.75.
Prusseit had rested players because he presumed that, like last time he was in the league, they would face a promotion playoff against the Nord division winner. But, strangely, they didn’t have to play one.
Energie Cottbus were promoted to 3. Liga!!
Local Cup Run
Having been knocked out of DFB-Pokal, Cottbus had a second cup opportunity in Verbandspokal Brandenburg, which they also won last season. They eased through to the last eight by hammering FSV Eintracht 6-1 then beating Hennigsdorf 2-0, but went up a level by thrashing FSV Luckenwalde 8-2 led by a Hottmann hat-trick.
Cottbus won 10 successive league games for the second time this season as Hottmann and Tigges edged a 2-0 win at Chemie Leipzig. A semi-final at home to Rathenow and Cottbus dominated with 19 shots to zero… but only scored one as Hottmann tapped home in first-half injury-time to reach the Final.
Three days after winning the league, Cottbus faced off against Oberliga Nordost winners Babelsburg. They got off to a flyer as Hottmann’s low cross helped Busche score just his third of the season. Hottmann was gifted a goal before curling home a brilliant second from 25 yards to make it 3-0 at the break before Babelsburg had even had a shot. They added a fourth after the break through centre-back Daniel Klug and wrapped up a 4-0 victory.
Energie Cottbus defended Verbandspokal Brandenburg and won Ruprecht Prusseit’s first cup tournament!!
Prusseit Celebrates More Success
This season had been a huge success that Prusseit believed validated his decision to quit Hansa Rostock II and drop down a league. He won his second league title and lifted his first cup as Cottbus dominated Regionalliga Nordost – but he would be playing his old club next season as Rostock II easily avoided relegation.
This season’s star man was obviously Hottmann, who scored a new club-record 48 goals plus six assists and an 8.08 average rating in 38 games. Tigges also impressed with 25 goals and 11 assists in 35 games, while Sanhá set a new club-record 28 assists and four goals in 42 games and Hennig scored eight and got 16 assists.
Up in Bundesliga, Bayern extended their streak to 18 successive titles. However, it was a lot closer this time as they only won the league by two points from Leipzig. Union Berlin improved to a mid-table finish but Hansa Rostock were relegated. Magdeburg finished 5th in 2. Bundesliga and Zwickau and Hansa Rostock II finished mid-table in 3. Liga.
Could Prusseit keep Energie Cottbus in 3. Liga? Or would his achievements see other OstDeutscher Sieg prospects take note of the manager’s ability? Join us on Friday to find out!
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