The cat has been put amongst the pigeons at the top of the 2.Bundesliga with both Darmstadt and Heidenheim suffering the jitters with losses, while Hamburg have kept their hopes of automatic promotion alive with a big win at Regensburg, whose appointment of Joe Enochs this week didn’t have the desired effect.
Sandhausen 1-2 Hansa Rostock
Returning coach Alois Schwartz inflicted a painful defeat on his former side to push them closer to relegation to the 3.Liga. Schwartz, sacked by Sandhausen in April, led his Rostock side to a 2-1 win at the Stadion am Hardtwald on Friday evening that steer them clear of the drop zone.
Nils Fröling opened the scoring in the 17th minute and the lead for the visitors was doubled via a Kai Pröger penalty. Janik Bachmann headed the home side back into contention ten minutes into the second half and they also saw a goal disallowed for a handball in the build-up. The best Sandhausen can hope for now is 16th place and a potential play-off game to avoid relegation.
Magdeburg 2-2 Nürnberg
A double strike from Felix Lohkemper helped Nürnberg to a share of the spoils against Magbeburg, but they are still too close to the drop zone for comfort. The Bavarians had to come back twice at the MDCC Arena after Jannes Horn’s own goal and a goal from Jason Ceka in the second half.
Magdeburg have now secured their place in next season’s 2.Bundesliga, but der Klub are just two points above Bielefeld in 16th. They are at home to Hansa Rostock next weekend.
Greuther Fürth 2-2 Eintracht Braunschweig
Fürth and Braunschweig shared a 2-2 draw at the Sportpark Ronhof I Thomas Sommer with both sides missing the chance to guarantee their survival. Anthony Ujah fired the visitors into a tenth minute lead only for Julian Green to head in an equaliser. Immanuel Pherai restored Eintracht’s lead in the second period only for Green to grab his second with an excellent finish from the edge of the box.
Holstein Kiel 2-1 Karslruhe
Kiel leapfrogged their opponents in the league table thanks to a 2-1 win on Saturday. It was their first win after three successive losses and takes them up to eighth in the table. Steven Skrzybski’s penalty was the only goal of the first half, but Finn Porath added a second on 69 minutes. Leon Jensen pulled one back with fifteen minutes to play, but the Storks held out for their win.
Kaiserslautern 1-2 Arminia Bielefeld
A 97th minute winner from Janni Serra gave Bielefeld a much-needed win and sees them retain a glimmer of hope that they can avoid the drop this season. The relegation-threatened Arminen took a 15th minute lead through Jomaine Consbruch and looked set for the win until an 88th minute equaliser through Lex Tyger Lobinger. They kept pushing at the Betzenberg and were rewarded deep into stoppage time when substitute Serra headed in. With Nürnberg failing to win they are now just two points behind them with two to play.
St. Pauli 0-0 Fortuna Düsseldorf
The goalless draw at the Millerntor on Saturday night did neither team any favours in their chasing down of third-place Hamburg. Marcel Hartel hit the bar for the hosts, while substitute Jona Niemiec did the same for Fortuna. The point sees both sides go to 54 points, but HSV have moved ahead thanks to their win on Sunday. In a strange way both sides can be said to have lost 0-0.
Jahn Regensburg 1-5 Hamburg
A four-goal first half blitz saw HSV hand out quite the baptism of fire for new Regensburg coach Joe Enochs and condemn Jahn to the bottom two. The Rothosen’s big win sees them move to within a point of second place Heidenheim and reignite dreams of automatic promotion.
Robert Glatzel got the scoring underway in just the fourth minute with Sonny Kittel adding a second from the penalty spot on seventeen minutes. Miro Muheim scored a third before Kittel added to his tally in first half injury time.
The hosts did pull one back ten minutes into the second period when Sebastian Schonlau headed into his own net, but with nine minutes left Filip Bilbija scored a fifth after a VAR check for offside let the goal stand.
Paderborn 3-2 Heidenheim
Heidenheim once again missed the chance to seal promotion with a defeat at Paderborn, which has opened the door for Hamburg to potentially take second spot from them.
The visitors actually led at half time with goals from Tim Kleindienst and Denis Thomalla cancelling out Kai Klefisch’s opener. However, two goals in the space of two minutes at the start of the second period saw the home regain control. Marvin Pieringer and then Florent Muslija did the damage. FCH had their chances to equalise with Jan-Niklas Beste hitting the woodwork and Pierienger going close, but the goal just wouldn’t fall. Heidenheim are just one point ahead of third place Hamburg.
Hannover 2-1 Darmstadt
The promotion party was also cancelled for Darmstadt, who suffered a second successive defeat. Goals from Harvard Nielsen and Cedric Teuchert put Hannover into a first half lead before die Lilien pulled one back just before the break through Phillip Tietz. Much as they tried, they couldn’t find the equaliser and a bad day was made a whole lot worse with late sendings off for both Matthias Bader and Braydon Manu for two yellow cards. Darmstadt’s lead at the top is now three points from Heidenheim and four over HSV.
