Harres double pack
©IMAGO
Holstein Kiel and Dynamo Dresden achieved important victories in the relegation battle on matchday 32 of the 2nd Bundesliga. While the Saxons defeated 1. FC Kaiserslautern with a goal from Vincent Vermeij, KSV beat their rivals Eintracht Braunschweig thanks to a brace from Phil Harres. As a result, Lower Saxony could slip to 17th place over the course of the match day. Arminia Bielefeld, on the other hand, looked like the winner against VfL Bochum for a long time in front of their home crowd on the Alm – but they hit back shortly before the final whistle.
Holstein Kiel managed to stay in the league early. In the 2-0 win against their northern rivals, the relegated team from the first division achieved their fourth success in a row with their new coach Tim Walter. In front of 15,034 spectators in the Holstein Stadium, Harres scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season in the 31st and 87th minutes. Eintracht played a good game until they conceded their first goal after half an hour. Jovan Mijatovic had the first chance to score after just 20 seconds. Johan Gomez hit the crossbar in the 20th minute.
But as so often this season, Eintracht lacked quality in the crucial moments. Before the beautifully played 1-0, the Braunschweig team gave the Kiel offensive too much space. In the second half, the Lower Saxony team became more and more superior as the game went on. But the offensive actions were almost never dangerous. In the 85th minute, substitute Faride Alidou headed over the goal from a good position. Otherwise, the Kiel team were very safe.
Dynamo wins first of three finals
Dynamo Dresden scored a very important victory in the relegation battle and increased the gap to the relegation places to at least four points with a 1-0 win against Kaiserslautern and thanks to Vermeij’s goal.
The guests, who were severely weakened after numerous failures, were initially concerned with securing their own penalty area and only launched their own hesitant attacks. That’s why the first round was largely lacking in highlights. Even after the break the game was bubbling along. It became dangerous for the Palatinate team, who now played a little more actively forward, when Hauptmann, Bobzien and Jason Ceka, who had strong dribbling skills, started moving. However, they often separated from the ball too late.
Nevertheless, Dresden’s lead was more than deserved. In a power-play situation, Alexander Rossipal found Vermeij at the far post, who just had to push the ball over the line. The goal noticeably livened up the game, now Kaiserslautern had to do more, but they couldn’t equalize.
Bielefeld still has to worry after a draw
Arminia, however, missed a break in the relegation battle. Against VfL, the East Westphalians, wearing anniversary jerseys, couldn’t get past a 1-1 (1-0) draw at the 100-year-old stadium location. Bochum, on the other hand, now has 40 points and should be able to plan for another second division season.
First, Joel Grodowski gave Bielefeld a 1-0 lead with a penalty kick (27′). The braver Bochum team equalized through substitute Moritz-Broni Kwarteng in the 79th minute to make the final score a deserved 1-1. Shortly after the final whistle, Bielefeld’s complaining coach Mitch Kniat saw a red card from referee Tobias Stieler.
