Fortuna Düsseldorf is at least a little closer to the promotion ranks of the 2nd Bundesliga. After a lightning start, coach Daniel Thioune’s team won 3-1 (2-0) against Eintracht Braunschweig and reduced the gap to third-placed 1. FC Heidenheim to five points. However, the top 4 of the league is only in action at the weekend.
On the other hand, the negative run of Jahn Regensburg continued. Coach Mersad Selimbegovic’s team lost 0-1 (0-1) at Karlsruher SC and has now been waiting for a win for nine league games. In this phase, Jahn only scored two out of a possible 27 points and could slip to the bottom of the table in the further course of the 22nd matchday.
Regensburg kept up well on Friday evening, but KSC scored the decisive goal: Mikkel Kaufmann (24th) benefited from a defensive error by the guests. On the other side, Sarpreet Singh (36th) only hit the crossbar from a distance.
Striker Dawid Kownacki took the lead after just 48 seconds on Friday night. In addition, Christoph Klarer (25th) and Jona Niemiec (85th) scored in front of 24,127 spectators for Düsseldorf, who missed a penalty kick from Rouwen Hennings (18th) and a crazy own goal by Florian Kastenmeier (62nd) after a Braunschweig corner were able to, in which the keeper staggered into the goal with the ball.
Kownacki made an impressive comeback after recovering from a torn muscle fibre. The Polish top scorer got the ball in the first attacking action in the penalty area, turned around Linus Gechter and converted it into the far post.
Düsseldorf switched to administration mode after Klarer’s header, Braunschweig came out of the break better. F95 keeper Kastenmeier caught a corner kick from Robin Krauße, but probably fell behind the line with the ball – a millimeter decision: referee Sven Waschitzki-Günther gave the goal according to the video images.