2nd League: St. Pauli consolidates first place against Fürth, Schalke beats BTSV

Ten goals in three games

Elias Saad gave FC St. Pauli an important victory in the promotion battle in the top game of the 2nd Bundesliga against pursuers SpVgg Greuther Fürth. In a top-class game on Saturday, the striker scored the goal to make the final score 3:2 (2:2) (81st minute). Saad (30th) had already made it 1-0 for the league leaders in the first half. Shortly afterwards, Oladapo Afolayan increased (33′).

The strong Fürth team equalized through Armindo Sieb (44th) and Simon Asta (59th). Thanks to this success, FC St. Pauli is six points ahead of Holstein Kiel and seven points ahead of Fürth after matchday 20. The game lived up to all expectations. In front of 29,035 spectators, the first half hour belonged to Hamburg, who had to cope with the cup loss against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Tuesday.

Coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team created numerous scoring opportunities. After an unfortunate shot save by the otherwise strong Fürth goalkeeper Jonas Urbig, Saad took the deserved lead. Immediately after the goal, a firecracker exploded near the St. Pauli players’ bench and the game was briefly interrupted. According to FC St. Pauli, there were no injuries and one suspect was caught.

Hamburg didn’t let the shock deter them; a deflected shot from Afolayan gave them a 2-0 lead. Fürth became more active after the second goal, Sieb scored and Asta equalized in the second half. In an open final phase, Saad ensured Hamburg’s victory.

FC Schalke 04 breathes a sigh of relief after victory against Eintracht Brauschweig

FC Schalke 04 has ended its negative streak and gained some breathing room in the relegation battle. After three games without a win, the Revierclub achieved a 1-0 (0-0) win in the basement duel with Eintracht Braunschweig and thus avoided falling into the relegation place. In front of 61,000 spectators in the Veltins Arena, Kenan Karaman scored the goal (61st minute) against Braunschweig, who had previously won four times in a row and are now threatened with falling into a direct relegation zone.

After the 4-1 defeat at 1. FC Kaiserslautern last matchday, Schalke coach Karel Geraerts made six changes to his team and surprised them with a goalkeeper change. After a long injury break, Marius Müller returned between the posts for Ralf Fährmann. The well-positioned hosts had a few good opportunities against Lower Saxony, who were defensively secure. Karaman only hit the crossbar in the 34th minute, Marcin Kaminski (20th) and Henning Matriciani also had good opportunities to score. Turkish international Karaman scored the deserved winning goal with a shot from eleven meters.

1. FC Nürnberg lost their win against VfL Osnabrück in stoppage time

Despite a brace from Can Uzun, 1. FC Nürnberg did not get back on the road to success in the 2nd league against bottom-placed VfL Osnabrück. In the 2:2 (1:1) on Saturday, the 18-year-old offensive player put the club in the lead twice in the Max Morlock Stadium with his goals nine and ten this season (17th/51st minute). But that wasn’t enough to win because Osnabrück’s joker Kwasi Okyere Wriedt managed to make it 2-2 in long injury time (90th + 3). Erik Engelhardt completed a fine counterattack in the first half to make it 1-1 (43′). The guests pushed for a second equalizer for a long time without success; Jannes Wulff, for example, was unlucky with a shot against the crossbar (72nd).

A week after the 3-0 loss in Hanover, the Nuremberg professionals initially showed the reaction that coach Cristian Fiél had demanded. The club put pressure on us. The most noticeable player was winter signing Sebastian Andersson, who appeared dangerous in front of the VfL goal twice. But then it was Uzun again who was let run by four Osnabrück opponents before his first goal. From 20 meters, the young star finished unstoppable for VfL goalkeeper Philipp Kühn. With the score 2-1 after the break, Uzun once again showed off his fine shooting technique. The guests reacted strongly, were superior, but were far from consistent in the end. Lukas Kunze, for example, failed in front of goalkeeper Carl Klaus (59th).

To home page