Hertha BSC continues its impressive series: Thanks to Dawid Kownacki’s joker goal, the Berliners won their sixth competitive game in a row on Saturday afternoon – in none of which they conceded a goal.
In the 1-0 win in Kiel, the in-form Berliners were once again the superior team, but for a long time they struggled to create clear chances against Kiel’s compact team. Substitute Kownacki then redeemed the Berliners with his header goal in the 75th minute of the game. “Kiel are a good team and pushed us to the limit“Hertha coach Stefan Leitl commented on the victory. “But compliments to my team, we played very disciplined and deserved to win.”
Hertha’s race to catch up in the table continues: with now 26 points, the Berliners have their sights firmly set on the promotion ranks. Kiel remains in midfield with 15 points – coach Marcel Rapp was annoyed about the final result: “We have to win games, that’s what counts. Basically, the performance was better than last – but in the end it’s the results that count.”
Favorite Hertha has more of the game
Five wins under their belt, no goals conceded in 500 minutes – Hertha went into the game as favorites as the team with the strongest form in the league. Kiel, however, held up well in the first half and recorded their first dangerous shot on goal when Alexander Bernhardsson tried to outwit Hertha keeper Tjark Ernst with a 40-meter lob.
As a result, Hertha was the superior team. The Berliners controlled the game and had their first offensive moments: Mickael Cuisance with a flick (13th) and Luca Schuler (24th) after a corner made the first marks. With Kiel’s well-organized team, it was anything but easy for the Leitl team to create a large number of chances, so the game went into the locker room goalless.
Hertha remains the better team
Second round, same picture: The Berliners remained the slightly superior team, but lacked speed and precision in the final third. Birthday boy Fabian Reese (28 years old), born in Kiel, was unable to put himself in the spotlight for a long time as he had done recently and expressed his frustration with many gestures. Cuisance then had Herthan’s best chance of the second half to date when he tried his luck again with a curling shot from a good position – the ball landed over the goal (64′).
Not satisfied for a long time – then decisively involved again: Fabian Reese
The game was moving more and more towards a draw before Kownacki’s substitution gave the game another turn: Reese was given a little too much space by the Kiel team and crossed accurately to the second post, where the Pole headed in like a textbook. Captain Reese, increasingly in top form after a difficult start to the season, had already set up the winning goal with an exemplary cross in the 1-0 win against Braunschweig the previous week. It was Reese’s seventh assist of the season, making him the sole top preparer in the league.
Kiel threw everything forward again, but the storks were no longer able to create any real danger. Hertha counterattacked in the final phase, but did not play off the counterattacks cleanly, so the final score remained 1-0.
Kiel at HSV, Hertha against Kaiserslautern
Kiel will be visiting Hamburger SV in the DFB Cup on Wednesday evening (8:45 p.m.). Hertha will host 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Tuesday evening for a duel between the second division teams in the cup (6 p.m.).