Table leaders Darmstadt 98 have lost their lead in the 2nd Bundesliga.
The team coach Torsten Lieberknecht lost the top game of the 23rd game day at pursuers 1. FC Heidenheim 0:1 (0:0), Hamburger SV closed on a point. The third-placed Heidenheimers are now three points behind the lilies.
Jan-Niklas Beste (89th) scored the redeeming goal for the hosts in front of 12,222 spectators on Saturday, who gave the Darmstadt team their second defeat of the season. Darmstadt had not lost 21 league games before.
Coach Frank Schmidt’s team from Heidenheim is now seven points ahead of SC Paderborn in fourth place. The yellow-red card against Heidenheim’s Dzenis Burnic (90 + 1) had no effect on the final result.
After two minutes, Darmstadt’s top scorer Phillip Tietz fired a warning shot from around 25 meters, FCH goalkeeper Kevin Müller was there. As a result, an initially little respectable game developed. Heidenheim’s Patrick Mainka had the best chance of the first half, hitting the crossbar with a header (21′).
At least shortly after the change of sides, the game got a little faster and consequently a little more attractive. Jan Schöppner (52nd) forced Marcel Schuhen to do a brilliant job in the Darmstadt goal. After that, the game flattened out – until Beste made the audience go wild and heralded a hot final phase.