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A colossal upset puts Hamburg back at the top of the table, while every team from 4th to 18th are separated by a mere 8 points. Here are the results from Matchday 9:
Darmstadt 1 – Karlsruher 1
Darmstadt’s winless run extended to 7 matches as they were held by a determined Karlsruher side at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor on Friday evening.
The match began brilliantly for the hosts, when a corner eluded everyone in the box except striker Serdar Dursun, who merely had to escort the ball over the line for his third goal of the season. KSC tied the score via their own corner kick just 2 minutes later, when Philipp Hoffman nodded in the sixth goal of his season.
Darmstadt had the majority of possession throughout the match (64%-36%) and managed 23 shots, but only 5 of those were on goal and other than Dursun’s opener, they were unable to best KSC keeper Benjamin Uphoff. Florian Stritzel kept KSC at bay at the other end and the match ended with nothing further on the scoreboard.
Wiesbaden 2 – Stuttgart 1
The season’s biggest upset saw bottom club Wiesbaden go into Stuttgart and win just their second league match of the season, and in the process end Stuttgart’s previously unbeaten start and knock them off the top of the table.
Manuel Schäffler has been a man on a mission this season. Going into this match, the Wiesbaden captain had accounted for 6 of Wiesbaden’s 11 goals. That percentage increased on Friday night, when he opened the scoring in the 3rd minute. Moritz Kuhn’s pinpoint cross found the big man between two Stuttgart defenders. Schäffler took a touch, turned, and fired past keeper Gregor Kobel to give Wiesbaden an unexpected lead.
After Max Dittgen missed an opportunity to double the lead on a counter, Stuttgart equalized in the 11th minute through Hamadi Al Ghaddioui, the Moroccan reacting fastest to a loose ball in the Wiesbaden box. But it didn’t stay level for long, because Schäffler pounced on a loose backpass and beat Kobel again with a quick shot, giving him his league leading 8th goal of the season.
Despite a massive 85% possession advantage, and holding Wiesbaden to a 45% pass completion percentage, Stuttgart could not find a way to put the ball in the net. Philipp Förster smashed against the bar in the 49th minute and Wiesbaden keeper Heinz Lindner stopped Mario Gómez’s header six minutes later.
Wiesbaden had to finish the match with 10 men after substitute Daniel-Kofi Kyereh was sent off for a stamp on Pascal Stenzel, the second week in a row an opponent has been sent off for a challenge on the Stuttgart fullback, but in a crazy sequence in the 89th minute, Stuttgart hit the post and then were denied by two straight goal line clearances by the desperate Wiesbaden defenders. The visitors bravely held on and scored a massive win, all but erasing the gap between them and the teams above them in the relegation fight.
Hannover 2 – Dynamo Dresden 0
A hostile affair between Hannover and Dresden at the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion ended with both sides a man down and Die Roten escaping with a vital win.
Hannover keeper Ron-Robert Zieler saved Florian Ballas’s curled effort and Waldemar Anton flashed a shot just wide, so the sides went into the half deadlocked. Hannover started to take control in the second half, with Marvin Ducksch shooting over from close range and Marc Stendera hitting the crossbar shortly thereafter.
A scuffle on the sideline brought things to a screeching halt in the 65th minute. Dresden midfielder Niklas Kreuzer got in the face of Hannover fullback Miiko Albornoz, who was holding onto the ball after a linesman’s call didn’t go his way. A fracas was avoided when referee Christian Dingert quickly took control of the situation and dismissed both Kreuzer and Albornoz, which meant that both sides would play on with 10 men.
Julian Korb finally gave Hannover the lead in the 72nd minute, when he beat the offside trap, chested down Stendera’s long ball, and volleyed past Dresden keeper Kevin Broll. Substitute Cedric Teuchert wrapped up the points for Die Roten in the 89th minute when he scored on the counter.
The result sees Hannover leapfrog Dresden in the standings, but both sides are still in the lower half of the table.
Sandhausen 2 – Erzgebirge Aue 2
Two top half sides produced an entertaining clash at the BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald in Sandhausen on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides took advantage of early chances, firstly in the 5th minute when Erzgebirge center-back Fabian Kalig saw his header deflect into the Sandhausen net off of counterpart Aleksandr Zhirov. Sandhausen attacker Aziz Bouhaddouz picked up his unfortunate teammate by scoring his off another corner hardly 10 minutes later.
The sides continued to create chances at both ends, with Kevin Behrens putting the hosts ahead in the 27th minute after a brilliant header from Kosovo international Leart Paqarada’s cross. Despite having less of the ball as the match continued (55%-45%), Erzgebirge were not done and their persistence paid off in the latter stages of the second half. A VAR assisted penalty was converted by Erzgebirge striker Pascal Testroet in the 77th minute and keeper Martin Männel was on hand to deny Sandhausen a last gasp winner.
Sandhausen are now winless in their last 4 matches, while Erzgebirge retain 4th place in the table.
Hamburg 2 – Greuther Fürth 0
Fürth’s poor run of form continued at the Volksparkstadion as Hamburg ran out 2-0 winners, to leapfrog Stuttgart to the top of the table once more.
Veteran Martin Harnik wasted several chances in the first 35 minutes to give HSV an early lead, and Kleeblätter full-back Tobias Mohr thought he’d put his side on top in the 37th minute, only for his effort to be correctly ruled out for offside.
Hamburg finally took the lead 4 minutes into the second half. Tim Leibold’s cross from the left was met by a flying header Jeremy Dudziak into the far corner, which left Sascha Burchert with no chance.
Daniel Heuer Fernandes produced a fine one-on-one save to deny Mohr an equalizer in the 65th minute and HSV substitute Sonny Kittel put the match to rest in the 85th minute, when he got in behind the Fürth defense and lobbed the ball in over Burchert.
Bochum 3 – Heidenheim 2
The long wait is finally over for Bochum and their supporters as they came away deserved winners at the Voith-Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Bochum midfielder Vitaly Janelt nearly gave his side the lead in only the 6th minute, but his backwards header bounced off the crossbar. But they only had to wait one more minute for the opener, when Simon Zoller headed in Danny Blum’s cross. They would score again 7 minutes later, when Sebastian Maier was sent through on goal and he selflessly crossed for an unmarked Blum to smash in Bochum’s second.
Robert Leipertz headed in Marc Schnatterer’s free kick in the 23rd minute to bring Heidenheim back into the match, but Bochum, despite having less possession (65%-35%), restored their two goal lead just after halftime, when club talisman Silvère Ganvoula M’boussy latched onto a poor backpass and shot past Heidenheim keeper Kevin Müller before he could stop him.
Heidenheim pulled one back in stoppage time when substitute Stefan Schimmer turned in Schnatterer’s attempted shot, but they couldn’t find the elusive equalizer. The win was not only Bochum’s first of the season, but also lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Jahn Regensburg 2 – Holstein Kiel 1
Despite having fewer possession (61%-39%), shots (18-7) and corners (11-4), it was visiting Regensburg who ran out winners at the Holstein-Stadion.
Winger Makana Baku gave the hosts the lead in the 16th minute with a blast past Regensburg keeper Alexander Meyer, but American Jann-Christopher George made his typical weekly appearance in this review by equalizing for Regensburg in the 30th minute. George’s effort was not intended as a shot, but the ball eluded both Regensburg striker Marco Grüttner and Kiel keeper Ioannis Gelios, and nestled into the net for 1-1.
Both sides had glorious chances to take the lead in the second half, but neither Andreas Albers nor Lee Jae-sung could give their respective teams the lead. Finally, it was a defensive miscue in the 87th minute that produced the winner. Neither Kiel center-back Dominik Schmidt nor Gelios seemed to want to deal with a long ball and their miscommunication allowed Albers to poke the ball over the line for a winner from nothing.
The win moves Regensburg up to 10th, while Kiel drop back into the relegation fight in 16th.
Nürnberg 1 – St Pauli 1
A fairly even affair at the Max-Morlock-Stadion on Sunday afternoon resulted in shared points between Der Club and Kiezkicker.
After a tense opening 20 minutes, it was St Pauli striker Viktor Gyökeres who gave his side the lead, although VAR had to intervene in order to count it. Full-back Sebastian Ohlsson had been flagged for offside in the build-up, but Gyökeres, a Swedish international, wisely finished the move off by sticking the ball in the net. Upon review, the referee overturned his linesman’s call and Kiezkicker were in front.
Nürnberg found their equalizer just after halftime, when club captain Hanno Behrens smashed in a loose ball on 50 minutes. Mats Møller Dæhli thought he’d given St Pauli the lead once again in the 65th minute, but the referee disallowed it after ruling that full-back Matt Penney had impeded Nürnberg keeper Christian Mathenia in the buildup.
Robin Hack came close to giving Nürnberg the lead in the last 10 minutes, but his free header flashed just wide of the post. Then in stoppage time, St Pauli substitute Borys Tashchy was within inches of a winner, only for Mathenia to deny him and then smartly deflect the rebound off the Kiezkicker man for a goal kick.
Both sides move up a place in the table and remain level on points.
Arminia Bielefeld 1 – Osnabrück 0
A week after a bitter defeat against Stuttgart, Bielefeld rallied themselves for a win over hosts Osnabrück at the Stadion an der Bremer Brücke on Monday evening.
Even without captain and leading scorer Fabian Klos, who was suspended after a red card against Stuttgart, Bielefeld’s attacking prowess showed no signs of slowing down. Cédric Brunner headed an early chance wide from a corner, and Cebio Soukou missed by an even closer margin with a shot in the 25th minute.
With a significant possession advantage (65%-35%) and a loud contingent of travelling supporters egging them on, Bielefeld finally got their goal in the 57th minute. Jonathan Clauss threaded a fine pass through the Lila-Weiß defense for Andreas Voglsammer, and the striker undoubtedly made his captain proud when he hooked the ball into the top part of the net with a marvelous touch.
Osnabrück found chances hard to come by and couldn’t put a single shot on target. Bielefeld almost scored a second late in the match, only for VAR to rule it out, but when Osnabrück attacker Etienne Amenyido received his marching orders in stoppage time for stopping a clear scoring chance, the result was sealed.
Bielefeld keep pace with the top two, while Osnabrück, with only 1 point from their last 4 matches, fall to 13th.
Table
1. Hamburg – 20 points (+14 GD)
2. Stuttgart – 20 points (+6 GD)
3. Arminia Bielefeld – 18 points
4. Erzgebirge Aue – 15 points
5. St Pauli – 13 points (+2 GD)
6. Nürnberg – 13 points (+1 GD)
Top Scorers
1. Manuel Schäffler (Wiesbaden) – 8 goals
2. Silvère Ganvoula M’boussy (Bochum) – 7 goals
T3. Philipp Hofmann (Karlsruher) – 6 goals
T3. Fabian Klos (Arminia Bielefeld) – 6 goals
Key Upcoming Matches – Matchday 10 (October 18 – 21)
Nürnberg @ Erzgebirge Aue – Friday 10/18, 12:30 pm EST
Kiel @ Stuttgart – Sunday 10/20, 7:30 am EST
Hamburg @ Arminia Bielefeld – Monday 10/21, 2:30 pm EST