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Stumbles from Hamburg & Stuttgart allow a high-flying Arminia Bielefeld side to race to the top of the table after Matchday 13. Here are the results:
St Pauli 1 – Bochum 1
For the second consecutive weekend, St Pauli failed to win at home, this time being held by a determined Bochum side at the Millerntor-Stadion on Friday evening.
The visitors, mired near the bottom of the table, were looking to build off of an impressive win against Nürnberg on Matchday 12, and they struck early in this match, with winger Simon Zoller netting in the 5th minute. This came amidst a flurry of attacking football at both ends of the pitch. Kiezkicker’s Waldemar Sobota had been denied by the post at the other end just before Zoller’s goal, but the St Pauli man made up for it just 5 minutes later when he buried an emphatic equalizer.
Bochum’s Anthony Losilla struck the post shortly after Sobota’s goal and both sides seemed to pump the brakes a bit because the action slowed down considerably thereafter. St Pauli looked the more threatening side, but Bochum came the closest to scoring late in the match, when Lee Jae-sung was denied by keeper Robin Himmelmann. St Pauli substitute Marvin Knoll hammered a free kick just wide in the waning moments and the match finished deadlocked.
Bochum remain in the relegation fight, while St Pauli are winless in their last 6 matches overall.
Dynamo Dresden 1 – Wiesbaden 0
A battle between the two sides mired in the relegation zone ended with Dynamo Dresden snapping a 6 match winless run in all competitions thanks to a solitary goal by Alexander Jeremejeff.
Wiesbaden thought they’d gone ahead in the 9th minute through leading goal-scorer Manuel Schäffler, but VAR intervened and the goal was disallowed. What happened was this:
-Jeremejeff charged down the right flank of the Wiesbaden box trying to catch a through ball. He got to it and crossed into the box, but it was dealt with easily by the Wiesbaden defense.
-Wiesbaden then marched up the other end of the pitch and Schäffler took on two Dresden defenders, beat them, and slotted the ball inside the right hand post.
However, on replay, it emerged that just before Jeremejeff had crossed the ball into the Wiesbaden box, the ball had rolled past the byline, meaning it was out of bounds. As a result, referee Martin Petersen waved the goal off, much to the consternation of Wiesbaden manager Rüdiger Rehm.
The Wiesbaden manager’s frustration was compounded when Jeremejeff scored in the 41st minute. Moussa Koné did good work down the right hand side and Jeremejeff got to his low cross just before Wiesbaden keeper Lukas Watkowiak and rolled it into the net.
An ugly moment took place shortly after, when Watkowiak was struck in the head by a projectile from the Dresden stands. In a nice showing of solidarity, Dresden keeper Kevin Broll ran all the way to the other end of the pitch to check on his counterpart, then admonished his own supporters for their actions. Watkowiak remained in the match.
Dresden controlled much of the match thereafter, but squandered several chances to extend their lead in the second half. The closest Wiesbaden came was when Marcel Titsch-Rivero found space inside the Dresden box, only to have his shot blocked by his own teammate Sascha Mockenhaupt.
Despite the win, Dresden only move up 17th, leapfrogging Wiesbaden, who drop back to bottom.
Holstein Kiel 1 – Hamburg 1
Die Störche were just moments away from a big win over league leaders Hamburg at the Holstein-Stadion, only for HSV to snatch a draw in stoppage time.
Hamburg came into Saturday’s match looking to rebound after a shock draw away to 10 man Wiesbaden on Matchday 12, but a silly foul by Bakery Jatta in the 26th minute, put them at a severe disadvantage. Jatta went right through the back of a Kiel midfielder and was given his marching orders as a result, meaning that HSV had to play the remaining 75 minutes with just 10 men.
Janni Luca Serra gave the hosts the lead just before halftime, with a nice turn and finish with his left foot, the ball just sneaking in off the right hand post. Kiel did well to hold Hamburg at bay for long stretches thereafter, but HSV was allowed to have just enough of the ball to make a potential tying goal a distinct possibility.
The hosts almost hung on, but in stoppage time, HSV won 3 corners in a row and on the third attempt, Kiel couldn’t clear the ball, and it fell to substitute Timo Letschert, who bashed in through a forest of legs, to break Die Störche hearts and salvage a precious point for his side.
HSV now have just one win (but no losses) in their last 4 league matches.
Sandhausen 3 – Greuther Fürth 2
Sandhausen scored a much needed win, their first since late August, over visiting Fürth in an entertaining affair at the BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald on Saturday afternoon.
It was a hard fought win for the hosts, who went behind twice during the match. Keeper Martin Fraisl saved from a Fürth corner in the 12th minute, but could do nothing to stop Julian Green’s laser free kick just two minutes later. Green however, would give the goal back late in the first half, when he needlessly fouled Julius Biada in the box, giving away a penalty. Kevin Behrens scored the spot kick to tie the match.
Kleeblätter retook the lead 7 minutes into the second half, when Branimir Hrgota outpaced the Sandhausen defense and got to a through ball, which he then dispatched past Fraisl for his third goal in 2 matches. But they could only hold it for 12 minutes, when, from a corner, Behrens notched his second of the match with a leaping header into the far corner.
Super sub Aziz Bouhaddouz then won the match for Sandhausen in stoppage time, when he beat his marker and latched onto Mario Engels’s angled cross from the right and finished past a helpless Sascha Burchert.
The goal sent Sandhausen and their supporters into a joyous frenzy and the result lifts them back into the top half of the table, just a point behind vanquished Fürth.
Osnabrück 1 – Stuttgart 0
In another Saturday upset, hosts Osnabrück took their first league win since September 1 when they outlasted third place Stuttgart at the Stadion an der Bremer Brücke.
The home supporters were in full voice early, a necessitation given the strength of the opponent, and Marcos Álvarez gave them something to cheer about in the 4th minute. A long ball from the right was met by the head of Werder Bremen loanee Niklas Schmidt. The ball was lofted back into the Stuttgart box and fell to an unmarked Álvarez who volleyed past keeper Gregor Kobel to give Lila-Weiß an unexpected lead, although the goal could be partially attributed to a slight deflection off Stuttgart center-back Marc-Oliver Kempf.
The remainder of the match was dominated by the visitors however. Stuttgart ended up with a massive possession advantage (74%-26%) and double the number of shots on target (6-3), but despite their offensive dominance, they couldn’t cash in on any of their chances. A combination of bad misses and good saves by Osnabrück keeper Philipp Kühn, who denied both Nicolás González (twice) and the reinstated Holger Badstuber, kept the hosts in front.
Schmidt almost gave his side a precious second goal in the second half, but he shot wide of the far post from point blank range. Nevertheless, Lila-Weiß were able to hang on and scored a vital victory.
Stuttgart meanwhile, continue their uneven form, having now lost 4 out of their last 5 league matches. They remain 3rd in the table, but questions regarding the performance of the squad, and manager Tim Walter, are probably being raised.
Arminia Bielefeld 5 – Nürnberg 1
Hamburg’s draw on Saturday gave second place Bielefeld an opportunity to move into first place on their own when they travelled to Nürnberg on Sunday afternoon.
It was Der Club’s first match under interim manager Marek Mintál, who took over after previous manager Damir Canadi was sacked following the defeat to Bochum on Matchday 12. The change in manager didn’t seem to help all that much because this one was all Bielefeld practically from the start.
Jonathan Clauss gave the visitors the lead in the 10th minute, showing that even if the ball isn’t intended for you, if you put yourself in a dangerous position, you might be rewarded. Florian Hartherz’s cross from the left missed his intended target, Fabian Klos, but Clauss had followed his captain’s run and got to the loose ball before keeper Benedikt Willert could scramble it away, poking it into the roof of the net.
Andreas Voglsammer then continued his scintillating form by doubling Bielefeld’s lead just three minutes later. The Nürnberg defense failed to close the midfielder down after he received the ball at the edge of the box from right-back Cédric Brunner and his shot left Willert no chance. The quick fire goals seemed to sap the hosts’ defense of their will and Bielefeld scored again 2 minutes later. Hartherz’s long pass forward didn’t seem to be any threat, but no Nürnberg defender went for the ball, which left Klos with an easy tap in under Willert to make it 3-0 on just 15 minutes.
From that point on, the sparsely populated Max-Morlock-Stadion sounded more like Bielefeld’s home ground. Nürnberg did pull one goal back in the 59th minute when center-back Asger Sørensen headed in from a corner, but Klos restored his side’s 3 goal cushion just a minute later, when he took advantage of another mix-up in the Nürnberg defense and smashed in his second of the match. Reinhold Yabo added a fifth goal in the 73rd minute to compound the hosts’ misery.
Bielefeld played like serious title contenders should play in matches like this and deservedly go top of the league. Nürnberg meanwhile are in trouble, having gone winless in their last 5 league matches.
Darmstadt 2 – Jahn Regensburg 2
3 goals from the 88th minute on saw Darmstadt & Regensburg share points at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor.
Regensburg took the lead in the 15th minute through fortuitous circumstances, when a cross from outside the box hit center-back Dario Đumić’s shin and bounced past keeper Marcel Schuhen. Darmstadt held the majority of the possession thereafter (61%-39%) and created many more shots (27-7) and shots on goal (9-2), but Regensburg succeeded in keeping them at bay until the very end of the match.
The hosts equalized in the 88th minute. Regensburg keeper Alexander Meyer couldn’t handle Victor Pálsson’s long-range shot and the rebound fell to striker Serdar Dursun, who scored into an open net. Dursun then scored again two minutes later, when he latched onto a through ball and shot under Meyer.
But Darmstadt themselves fell victim to a keeper error near the death, when Schuhen couldn’t hold a cross from the left and Regensburg’s Andreas Albers bundled the loose ball over the line for a last second equalizer.
Darmstadt did well to come back, but will be kicking themselves for not taking all 3 points, while Regensburg will do well to consider themselves lucky to escape with a point after leading for greater than 75% of the match.
Heidenheim 4 – Hannover 0
Nürnberg isn’t the only recently demoted heavyweight struggling thus far this season. Hannover, in their first match under interim manager Asif Šarić, were thrashed by Heidenheim at the Voith-Arena on Sunday afternoon.
On a day when every club in Germany paused to remember Hannover keeper Robert Enke, who tragically committed suicide 10 years ago, his former side went down early in the 3rd minute. David Otto’s cross sailed all the way across the box and found the head of Tim Kleindienst, who’s downward header bounced over the line and into the roof of the net.
Kleindienst almost scored again shortly thereafter, but shot wide of the far post. Hannover came very close to equalizing late in the half, only for Waldemar Anton’s shot to carom off the post.
Shortly after halftime, Kleindienst finally got his second, when he slotted in Patrick Mainka’s flicked header off a corner. He might’ve had a third just moments later, but Die Roten center-back Marcel Franke shoved him over as he raced in on keeper Ron-Robert Zieler. Franke was sent off for his last man challenge and gave away a penalty, which Heidenheim captain Marc Schnatterer converted.
Midfielder Sebastian Griesbeck scored his side’s 4th in the 70th minute from a Norman Theuerkauf cross and Hannover offered very little going forward thanks to their man disadvantage.
Heidenheim remain in the top half of the table, while Hannover fall to 15th, level on points with Nürnberg.
Karlsruher 1 – Erzgebirge Aue 1
Despite taking an astounding 30 shots over the course of 90+ minutes, hosts Karlsruher were unable to get more than a point against 10 man Erzgebirge at the Wildparkstadion on Monday evening.
The visitors took an early 7th minute lead when winger Jan Hochscheidt latched onto a long ball, rounded keeper Benjamin Uphoff and slotted in. Uphoff had to be on his toes to keep Erzgebirge from notching a second in the 22nd minute, but all the visitors hard work was undone when goalscorer Hochscheidt was sent off in the 40th minute for a rash challenge on KSC full-back Marco Thiede along the sideline.
From that point on, it was all KSC. They finished with a huge possession advantage (70%-30%) and created several chances, but only managed to best keeper Martin Männel once, when substitute Anton Fink beat the Erzgebirge captain with a well-placed shot into the lower left corner.
Referee Sven Waschitzki initially awarded the hosts a penalty in the 84th minute, but a VAR check caused him to retract it and KSC could not find a winner in the remaining minutes.
Table
1. Arminia Bielefeld – 28 points
2. Hamburg – 26 points
3. Stuttgart – 23 points
4. Heidenheim – 20 points (+7 GD)
5. Erzgebirge Aue – 20 points (+1 GD)
6. Fürth – 18 points
Top Scorers
1. Fabian Klos (Arminia Bielefeld) – 10 goals
T2. Manuel Schäffler (Wiesbaden) – 8 goals
T2. Silvère Ganvoula M’boussy (Bochum) – 8 goals
T2. Andreas Voglsammer (Arminia Bielefeld) – 8 goals
Key Upcoming Matches – Matchday 14 (November 22 – 25)
St Pauli @ Erzgebirge Aue – Friday 11/22, 12:30 pm EST
Dynamo Dresden @ Hamburg – Saturday 11/23, 7:00 am EST
Sandhausen @ Arminia Bielefeld – Saturday 11/23, 7:00 am EST
Karlsruher @ Stuttgart – Sunday 11/24, 7:30 am EST
*The sub headline should be sung to the chorus melody of Armenia City in the Sky, the opening track of The Who’s 1967 album, The Who Sell Out.