Holstein Kiel collected the next important points in the relegation battle of the 2nd Bundesliga with enormous efficiency. The northern club, which has now been unbeaten for five games, was lucky to win 1-0 (0-0) at Hertha BSC and inflicted another home defeat on the Berlin team.
With Holstein’s only shot on goal, Jonas Therkelsen scored the winning goal in the 63rd minute. Kiel was even able to gain a small cushion of points over the dangerous zone. For Hertha, the season is just coming to an end after the chance of promotion had already been lost.
Hertha dominated the game in the retro shirts that were reminiscent of Berlin’s championship title 120 years ago. The fact that despite the clear superiority in front of 47,280 spectators in the Olympic Stadium it was not enough to score a goal was due to negligent exploitation of opportunities and also to Günter Perl. The video referee intervened for the first time after Josip Brekalo (2nd) scored a lightning strike. Luca Schuler was offside.
Deep into stoppage time in the first half, a penalty whistle was overturned by referee Robert Kampka. This time Deyovaisio Zeefuik was caught just offside. In between there were 45 minutes of Hertha dominance and some good saves from Kiel goalkeeper Timon Weiner.
Kiel made no attempt to remedy the astonishing passivity in the creative game. Hertha had the next good chance through Schuler (56th). When Weiner was already beaten, Marko Ivezic (61′) cleared a shot from Michael Cuisance just in front of the line. And shortly afterwards, Therkelsen perfected an absurd run of play with his goal from close range.
