Bouhaddouz misses great chances
MSV were clearly the better team in the early stages and should have taken the lead, but striker Aziz Bouhaddouz missed three big chances.
The 35-year-old first hit the post with a turning shot from 16 meters (6th). After a through ball, Bouhaddouz (11th) ran alone towards Tim Schreiber and was denied by Halle’s keeper. Just two minutes later, the MSV veteran (13th) headed just wide of the far post after a Pusch cross.
Pusch and Fleckstein score for MSV
In the next attack, the Meiderichs took the lead with a dream goal when Kolja Pusch (19th) hammered the ball into the left corner of the cross from 17 meters. However, Halle happily equalized with his first good chance: after a deflected long-range shot by Jan Shcherbakovski, the ball bounced right in front of Elias Huth’s feet (25′), who scored from close range.
After the break, MSV came out of the dressing room with new momentum and took the lead back. After a corner kick from Pusch, Tobias Fleckstein (59th) was completely free in the five-yard space and headed in from a few yards.
Duisburg kept the pressure on, Pusch (71.) threw the ball over the goal from five meters after a clever cross pass from John Yeboah. In the final phase, Halle’s goalkeeper, Schreiber, prevented his team from suffering a major defeat with a few strong saves.
Viktoria Cologne without a chance in Magdeburg
Victoria Cologne suffered a clear defeat at leaders 1. FC Magdeburg. Cologne lost 4-2 (3-1) and are 13th in the table. but still seven points ahead of the relegation region.
After Viktoria failed to clear things up, Luca Schuler gave the hosts the lead after just five minutes. A little later, Magdeburg made it 2-0 after a blunder from Cologne: Jason Cheka (13′) conquered a pass that was too short from Viktorias Moritz Fritz to goalkeeper Moritz Nicolas and easily pushed it into the empty goal.