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Two of the table’s top 4 sides suffered defeat in Matchday 12. Here are the results:
Darmstadt 4 – Greuther Fürth 0 (Tuesday, December 15 – Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer)
Darmstadt went into Fürth and put a whoopin’ on second placed Kleeblätter to open the mid-week fixtures.
Both keepers made impressive saves in the opening 15 minutes before Tim Skarke had a go from distance and picked out the top corner in the 17th minute. Fürth had a hard time dealing with Darmstadt’s attack and keeper Sascha Burchert was a busy man in the first half. He stopped several further chances, but could do nothing with Serdar Dursun’s 45th minute effort that doubled Darmstadt’s lead.
Dursun grabbed a second just after the interval and center-back Immanuel Höhn headed in a fourth for the visitors on 76 minutes. Fellow defender Lars Lukas Mai was sent off in the 83rd minute for a second bookable offence, but it was far too late for the hosts, who were thoroughly beaten.
Hamburg 4 – Sandhausen 0 (Tuesday, December 15 – Volksparkstadion)
Hamburg got back into the form they started the season with by easily dispatching Sandhausen.
It was a tense opening half hour, with Hamburg patiently building up the play and Sandhausen looking dangerous on the counter. But Simon Terodde decided to impose himself on 30 minutes and stuck in Jeremy Dudziak’s cross for the opener. Sandhausen showed more fightback than they have displayed in the previous few matchdays and looked dangerous early in the second half, but they just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Terodde scored his second with HSV’s first real chance of the second half on 67 minutes and this opened the floodgates. Substitute Amadou Onana chipped the keeper for his first Hamburg goal in the 78th minute and Josha Vagnoman headed in the fourth in stoppage time.
Heidenheim 0 – Regensburg 0 (Tuesday, December 15 – Voith-Arena)
Regensburg ended Heidenheim’s 3-match winning streak by holding the hosts to a goalless draw.
It was a pretty clean game for what ended up being a nil-nil score line, with no cautions and 4 shots on target each. Only one of the latter occurred in the opening 45 minutes however, with Regensburg’s Alexander Meyer saving David Otto’s 22nd minute shot.
Both keepers made saves early in the second half, but things slowed down considerably until Regensburg’s Jann-Christopher George conceded a VAR-assisted penalty to Heidenheim’s Christian Kühlwetter. But Meyer got down to his left and saved Denis Thomalla’s subsequent spot kick to keep the match tied. Each side had an opportunity to win it late, but couldn’t apply the finishing touch, and had to settle for a point each.
Hannover 2 – Bochum 0 (Tuesday, December 15 – HDI-Arena)
Hannover turned in a dominant display against third placed Bochum.
Valmir Sulejmani scored in just the 2nd minute from a Marvin Ducksch assist and from that point, Die Roten were off and running. Bochum would maintain the majority of possession, but Hannover looked very dangerous on the counter. The visitors were fortunate not to be down by multiple goals at the half thanks to some timely saves by keeper Manuel Riemann.
Bochum ultimately failed to put a single shot on target in the whole 90 minutes, and when Ducksch scored from the penalty spot at the hour mark after drawing a foul from Bochum’s Vasilis Lampropoulos, the only remaining question was would Hannover get any more. They tried, but a combination of Riemann and the woodwork limited them to only two goals on the day, but that was more than enough.
Holstein Kiel 1 – Nürnberg 0 (Wednesday, December 16 – Holstein-Stadion)
Table toppers Kiel grabbed a tough home win late against Nürnberg.
Die Störche had the lion’s share of the possession, but a stingy Nürnberg defense held them at bay comfortably for most of the first half. Keeper Christian Mathenia dealt with the only two attempts on goal in the opening 45 minutes, which left it all to play for in the second half.
Ole Werner’s men kept looking like the better side in the second half, but couldn’t seem to put the finishing touch on any of their attacking moves. Finally, 10 minutes from time, substitute Fabian Reese crossed into the Nürnberg box from the right and found teammate Fin Bartels lurking near the penalty spot. The former Bremen man placed his shot perfectly and gave Kiel a lead they would not relinquish.
The win is Kiel’s fourth consecutive league triumph and increased their lead at the top to 2 points.
Paderborn 2 – Braunschweig 2 (Wednesday, December 16 – Benteler-Arena)
If Heidenheim-Regensburg was a pretty nil-nil draw, Paderborn-Braunschweig was an ugly 2-2 draw.
Paderborn charged out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to an 8th minute Dennis Srbeny penalty and a 19th minute effort from Dortmund loanee Chris Führich. But Braunschweig countered 10 minutes later and pulled one back through Fabio Kaufmann’s deflected long-range shot. The remainder of the first half featured several missed chances for both sides, meaning the score line remained 2-1 Paderborn.
The second half featured more fouls than shots and then Paderborn’s Christopher Antwi-Adjei got himself sent off after losing possession and fouling Braunschweig’s Jannis Nikolaou in an attempt to make up for his mistake. Paderborn tried to play defense and see out the result, but Nick Proschwitz tied the score on 81 minutes with a thumping header.
But neither side could put anything together in the remaining 10 minutes and when Braunschweig’s Marcel Bär was also sent off for a second yellow in stoppage time following a clash with Paderborn’s Prince Osei Owusu, the match came to a merciful end.
Düsseldorf 3 – Osnabrück 0 (Wednesday, December 16 – Merkur Spiel-Arena)
Düsseldorf made an early goal hold up and finished off Osnabrück late on the counter.
Shinta Appelkamp gave the hosts the lead with the first chance of the match in the 11th minute. Kevin Wolze nearly tied it up 10 minutes later, but his shot struck the post. Düsseldorf keeper Raphael Wolf, subbing for suspended regular starter Fabian Kastenmeier, made two saves in quick succession shortly thereafter to preserve his side’s lead.
Düsseldorf were content to play defense in the second half, but Lila-Weiß were unable to do much of anything in attack. This allowed the hosts to counter and they grew more and more dangerous as the half went on. Finally, Rouwen Hennings stuck the ball in the net on the counter in the 89th minute and followed it up with another fast break goal three minutes later.
It was an emphatic end to the match, although the final score-line was more flattering to Düsseldorf than the result probably should’ve been.
Erzgebirge Aue 4 – Karlsruher 1 (Thursday, December 17 – Erzgebirgsstadion)
Erzgebirge took an early lead and never looked back against Karlsruher.
Pascal Testroet set up teammate Florian Krüger to give the hosts the lead in just the 2nd minute. Testroet then got on the scoresheet himself in the 19th minute with a long-range bullet into the bottom right corner. The early lead allowed Erzgebirge to settle back into a comfortable defensive wall and after keeper Martin Männel kept KSC out on two first half attempts, Erzgebirge never really looked uncomfortable.
Testroet nabbed a brace 6 minutes after the restart and although Benjamin Goller put Karlsruher on the board in the 58th minute, VAR erased a second goal in the 61st minute due to an offside in the build-up. From then on, they were unable to do much to threaten Erzgebirge down the stretch. Substitute Philipp Zulechner’s 89th minute goal was icing on the cake in a thoroughly deserved win.
Table
1. Kiel – 25 points
2. Hamburg – 23 points
3. Fürth – 21 points
4. Bochum – 20 points (+7 GD)
5. Düsseldorf – 20 points (-2 GD)
…
15. Braunschweig – 12 points
16. Sandhausen – 11 points
17. St Pauli – 8 points*
18. Würzburger – 4 points*
Top Scorers
1. Simon Terodde (Hamburg) – 13 goals
T2. Christian Kühlwetter (Heidenheim) – 9 goals
T2. Serdar Dursun (Darmstadt) – 9 goals
*St Pauli and Würzburger have played only 11 matches thus far. Their Matchday 12 clash was postponed after a member of the Würzburger staff tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.