The struggling Bundesliga soccer team 1. FC Heidenheim suffered another setback in morale at the end of the Conference League preliminary round and wasted a possible success late on.
Coach Frank Schmidt’s team, which has now been without a win for eight games, had to be content with a 1-1 (1-0) draw against FC St. Gallen on Thursday evening and therefore missed out on early entry into the round of 16. 1. FC Heidenheim had already qualified for the play-offs before matchday 6.
Left-back Norman Theuerkauf (30th) scored his first European Cup goal to give Heidenheim the lead, who had previously suffered seven defeats in a row across all competitions. Jozo Stanic (77th) caused the late shock with the equalizer.
“The play-offs are a small evil. That’s annoying. We’re happy to take them with us, but we would have liked to have saved ourselves the two games,” said Theuerkauf on “RTL+”.
1. FC Heidenheim conceded a goal after a corner
The FCH also failed to gain self-confidence for the important last competitive game of the year: Next Sunday, Heidenheim will play in the basement duel in the Bundesliga against bottom team VfL Bochum (3:30 p.m.).
Heidenheim got off to a good start in sometimes heavy rain and took the initiative early on. The Bundesliga team built up pressure particularly on the right wing, but initially no great chances arose against the weakest defense in the Conference League before the match day.
Heidenheim also did not capitalize on the insecurities of St. Gallen goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi after set pieces. When the hosts threatened to lose their dominance and were increasingly challenged defensively, Theuerkauf provided relief.
In a duel that became more heated, Heidenheim remained the dominant team against the Swiss with former Augsburg coach Enrico Maaßen.
However, Schmidt’s team had problems advancing dangerously into the final third, and victory remained in jeopardy. Stephan Ambrosius (70th) already had the equalizer on his feet. On the other side, youngster Paul Wanner (72′) failed to hit the outside post after a strong solo – but then Stanic headed in from a corner to make it 1-1.