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A quarter of the way through the season, both ends of the table remain closely packed. Here are the results from matchday 9:
Osnabrück 1 – St Pauli 0 (Friday, November 27 – Millerntor-Stadion)
A late goal gave Osnabrück a win, while consigning St Pauli to another bad result.
Kiezkicker were the better team on the day, but couldn’t put together a coherent move for the majority of the first half. Simon Makienok had the only chance on goal, but couldn’t get past keeper Philip Kühn.
It was a similar story for the first part of the second 45, but Lila-Weiß slowly began to turn things around late. And with the match up for grabs in the final 10 minutes, Osnabrück pulled a smash-and-grab when Etienne Amenyido’s saved shot was pushed directly into the path of substitute David Blacha who hammered home from close range.
It was a bitter result for St Pauli, who have not won a league match since September.
Darmstadt 4 – Braunschweig 0 (Friday, November 27 – Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor)
A thundering first half display gave Darmstadt a comprehensive win over a poor Braunschweig side.
The goals came early and often for the hosts. Braunschweig keeper Felix Dornebusch brought down Darmstadt striker Serdar Dursun in the box after just 4 minutes. Tobias Kempe put away the penalty to give Darmstadt the lead, and Dursun quickly made it 2-0 just a minute later when he intercepted a poor back pass and slotted in.
Dursun took advantage of another mix-up in the Braunschweig defense to score his side’s third in the 34th minute and after the striker won a second penalty of the match just two minutes later, Kempe notched a brace of his own from the penalty spot.
The match was effectively over before the halftime whistle and Braunschweig did little to get back into the match in the final hour or so, allowing Darmstadt to coast to an easy win.
Regensburg 2 – Würzburger 1 (Saturday, November 28 – Jahnstadion Regensburg)
It took them over 80 minutes, but Regensburg finally pulled ahead of Würzburger and took all 3 points.
Regensburg were on the front foot early on, but couldn’t manage to find the final ball that would put them ahead. Würzburger kept it close, but their task was made harder when substitute Niklas Hoffmann was given a straight red card for a stupid hack to the head on Regensburg’s Erik Wekesser.
Würzburger hung on for 15 more minutes, but Jan-Niklas Beste finally put Regensburg out in front in the 83rd minute when he headed in Benedikt Saller’s cross from the right. Sebastian Stolze scored a second on the counter and Regensburg, despite conceding a stoppage time goal to Würzburger’s Hendrik Hansen, at last, took a deserved win.
Erzgebirge Aue 4 – Sandhausen 1 (Saturday, November 28 – BWT-Stadion am Hardtwald)
Erzgebirge scored four unanswered goals to score a come from behind away win.
Sandhausen, in their first match under new manager Michael Schiele, took an early 19th minute lead from the penalty spot. Calogero Rizzuto fouled striker Kevin Behrens as he streaked toward goal and Behrens made no mistake from the spot to put the hosts on top. But Erzgebirge’s Florian Krüger levelled things from close range in the 31st minute.
The hosts were awarded a second penalty in the 32nd minute, but this time, keeper Martin Männel came out in top and punched Behrens’ spot kick safely away. From then, it was all Erzgebirge. Ben Zolinski headed them into the lead in the 40th minute and then secured a brace in the 63rd minute from close range. Pascal Testroet added a fourth late and, despite a late red card picked up John-Patrick Strauß, Erzgebirge cruised to a comfortable win.
Karlsruher 1 – Paderborn 0 (Saturday, November 28 – Wildparkstadion)
Hosts Karlsruher secured a hard-fought win over a surging Paderborn.
An early goal mouth scramble produced the only goal of the match. After being denied twice by goal-line clearances, KSC’s Philipp Hofmann decided to let someone else have a try and his pass across the goal found center-back Daniel Gordon who finally put the ball in the net to give KSC the lead.
Karlsruher should’ve ended up with more than just one goal, but a combination of Paderborn’s Jamilu Collins and the crossbar kept the lead at just one. Nevertheless, Paderborn were surprisingly toothless on the day, with only a second half chance from substitute Kai Pröger offering any real danger.
It was a fine performance from Karlsruher, who scored their third league win in succession.
Heidenheim 3 – Hamburg 2 (Sunday, November 29 – Voith-Arena)
On their return trip to the site where last season’s promotion campaign came unraveled, Hamburg blew another lead and lost in stoppage time to Heidenheim.
After a stuttering opening 15 minutes, HSV grabbed the lead on the counter when Marvin Wintzheimer’s 16th minute cross from the right was smashed in by teammate Sonny Kittel. Eight minutes later, Hamburg made it 2-0 when Heidenheim failed to clear a cross and center-back Toni Leistner blasted in from close range.
But the two-goal lead only lasted 3 minutes. This time it was Hamburg’s turn to not deal with a corner, and Norman Theuerkauf’s cross back in from the right found the head of teammate Christian Kühlwetter, who side-stepped his marker to beat keeper Sven Ulreich.
The big question thus far for Heidenheim has been who will provide the goals after they lost top striker Tim Kleindienst in the summer window. Well, that question appears to have been answered, as Kühlwetter was on hand again to tap in Denis Thomalla’s pass after Hamburg’s defense blew the offside trap and gave Heidenheim a clear run at goal. It was Kühlwetter’s 5th goal in his last 3 league matches.
The second half was almost all Heidenheim, but they just couldn’t seem to find the final touch they needed to take the lead. Substitute Florian Pick was particularly profligate in front of goal, but that was nothing compared to the chance league leading scorer Simon Terodde blew at the other end in the 86th minute with the goal at his mercy.
But ultimately the match was decided by one mistake and it was made by Ulreich in stoppage time. He was too loose with the ball at his feet and straight up gave the ball to (you guessed it) Kühlwetter, who made no mistake and gave Heidenheim the lead and the win.
After such a promising start to the season, Hamburg has fallen on a rough patch, particularly defensively, which was the biggest reason why promotion eluded them last season. It will be interesting to see how Daniel Thioune’s men respond going forward.
Meanwhile, Kühlwetter has burst onto the scene in his last few matches and is now second only to Terodde in the league scoring chart.
Greuther Fürth 3 – Nürnberg 2 (Sunday, November 29 – Max-Morlock-Stadion)
Fürth came out on top in an exciting Franconian Derby to win their 5th match in succession and go top of the table.
Håvard Nielsen gave Kleeblätter the lead in just the 3rd minute, but Nürnberg, fresh off a big win over Osnabrück in Matchday 8, struck back 5 minutes later through Manuel Schäffler. The sides then traded chances at both ends of the pitch over the next half hour, before Nielsen was given too much space at the edge of the penalty area and stuck the ball firmly in the far corner to put Fürth back out in front.
Branimir Hrgota made it 3-1 just after halftime, but as is often the case, Derbies are never over until the final whistle. Fürth’s Hans Nunoo Sarpei slipped in his own box in the 78th minute and lost the ball to Nikola Dovedan, who scored before anyone around him had a chance to react. But Fürth keeper Sascha Burchert made sure there would be no blown lead on this day, and his side held on to take all 3 points.
Holstein Kiel 3 – Hannover 0 (Sunday, November 29 – HDI-Arena)
A scoreless first half gave way to a second half onslaught, which saw Kiel run away from 10-man Hannover.
Die Roten were wasteful in front of goal in the first 45 minutes. Marvin Ducksch was particularly at fault, as he blew two one-on-one opportunities against keeper Ioannis Gelios. This allowed Kiel to keep the match scoreless at the half and strike rapidly in the second 45.
Fin Bartels’ 55th minute shot was blocked by the arm of Hannover’s Simon Falette, resulting in a penalty that Alexander Mühling converted. Moments after the resulting kickoff, Kiel broke through on goal and Fabian Reese’s attempted cross was turned in for an own goal by Dominik Kaiser. Janni Luca Serra then made it 3 goals in 5 minutes, with a stretching header in off the post from a Bartels cross.
Falette picked up two yellow cards in rapid succession for dissent with 20 minutes left, practically eliminating any slim chance Hannover had of coming back and Die Störche coasted the rest of the way.
Bochum 5 – Düsseldorf 0 (Monday, November 30 – Vonovia Ruhrstadion)
A second half onslaught against 10 men lifted Bochum into second in the table at the quarter pole.
Düsseldorf’s Kristoffer Peterson was sent off in just the 3rd minute for a last man challenge on Simon Zoller. Danny Blum tucked away the resulting penalty to give Bochum the early lead, but it would not be until the second half that they blew the match open.
Robert Tesche headed in from a 58th minute corner to double Bochum’s lead and Robert Žulj added a third 15 minutes later with a wonderful curled effort. Žulj nabbed his second of the match moments later from close range before substitute Miloš Pantović wrapped up the scoring in stoppage time to put an end to Düsseldorf’s misery.
Table
1. Fürth – 18 points
2. Bochum – 17 points (+8 GD)
3. Hamburg – 17 points (+5 GD)
4. Kiel – 16 points (+5 GD)
5. Osnabrück – 16 points (+2 GD)
…
15. Sandhausen – 8 points (-7 GD)
16. Braunschweig – 8 points (-12 GD)
17. St Pauli – 7 points
18. Würzburger – 4 points
Top Scorers
1. Simon Terodde (Hamburg) – 9 goals
2. Christian Kühlwetter (Heidenheim) – 8 goals
3. Serdar Dursun (Darmstadt) – 6 goals