11 goals in 2 games
©IMAGO
Promotion candidate Hertha BSC has suffered the next setback in the 2nd Bundesliga after a stormy exchange with relegation-threatened SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Five days after the botched home performance against 1. FC Magdeburg (0:2), the team of former Fürth promotion coach Stefan Leitl, despite leading 2:0 and 3:2 in Franconia, did not get beyond a somewhat flattering 3:3 (2:1).
At the start of the 16th matchday, the Hertha team improved to sixth place in the table. Almost a week after the hard-fought 2-2 draw in the Franconian derby against 1. FC Nürnberg, the Fürth team are now 15th. After an assist from Michaël Cuisance, the former Fürther Fabian Reese (33rd minute) and Luca Schuler (36th) ensured a double strike for the Berliners. Almost out of nowhere, Branimir Hrgota (42nd) made the game exciting again in front of 12,276 spectators with a single action.
Felix Klaus (58th) completed Hrgota’s cross in a wild game with his seventh goal of the season to equalize. Schuler’s (62nd) shot to give Berlin a new lead was countered by the Fürth team, who were much more agile in the second half, with Dennis Srbeny’s joker goal (81st). Leitl and Heiko Vogel warmly greeted each other before kick-off; after all, they have known each other for a long time. When Leitl was still playing in midfield at FC Ingolstadt (2007 to 2013), Vogel was the assistant to the then coach Thorsten Fink.
On the pitch, it was only Hertha’s enthusiastic players who set the tone against the worst defense in the league. The first supposed lead by Reese (26th) was subsequently canceled by the video referee because of offside. A few minutes later, Leitl’s team rewarded themselves. But the Franconians, where Vogel trusted his fighting derby starting eleven, didn’t let up. Just three minutes after his substitution, striker Srbeny punished the guests, who did too little to win after the substitution.
BTSV hits back late in Dresden
Thanks to a strong first half and a late goal, Eintracht Braunschweig has gained some breathing room in the relegation battle. The Lower Saxony team won 3:2 (2:0) against their rivals Dynamo Dresden. Former Dresden player Christian Conteh (7th) gave the guests an early lead in front of 31,150 spectators and made it 2-0 after 21 minutes. With a double strike, Jakob Lemmer (54th) and Nils Froling (56th) connected and equalized. Braunschweig’s Patrick Nkoa (78th) scored to give Eintracht the lead again, which also meant victory.
The hosts, where Stefan Kutschke had to replace Vincent Vermeij at short notice, initially had no attitude towards the game. There wasn’t much going forward. But outrageous mistakes were made in their own half. A whole chain of these led to the opening goal. In addition, there were repeated slight ball losses due to passing errors. There was no organizing hand in midfield.
Braunschweig took advantage of this, gained increasing security, had air superiority and was more aggressive in the duels. Johan Gomez (13th) missed a great opportunity to make it 2-0 when the Dynamo defense couldn’t get the ball out of their own penalty area. Conteh did better a little later. This was preceded by a sleeper interlude in the hosts’ build-up game. If Dresden goalkeeper Tim Schreiber hadn’t reacted strongly three times at the end of the first half, his team would have been significantly behind.
In the second half, Dynamo suddenly acted with pressure and intelligence. This impressed the people of Braunschweig, who now made mistakes of their own. Before the 1:2, Ron-Thorben Hoffmann was unable to hold on to a Lemmer shot; the equalizer was preceded by errors in positional play. As Dynamo pressed for the winning goal, Nkoa poked the ball over the line of the Dresden goal from the crowd. Now Dynamo had to come back, thereby opening up space for Eintracht to counterattack. Dynamos Jonas Oehmichen missed a great chance to equalize in stoppage time.