Fortuna Düsseldorf narrowly won against FC St. Pauli in the 2nd Bundesliga thanks to a red card on Saturday (November 5th, 2022) and is now looking again towards the promotion places.
The 1-0 (1-0) was the third league win in a row for coach Daniel Thioune’s team, who are now just one point away from third place. For the guests it was the third second division game in a row without a win, the liberation in the relegation battle did not materialize. Rouwen Hennings scored the winning goal for Fortuna in the 22nd minute, St. Pauli’s Betim Fazliji saw the red card after a good hour.
Lots of chances, but only Rouwen Hennings scores
The game started lively, both teams were visibly trying to create their own offensive moments. The guests had the first really good opportunity, but the somewhat unplaced header from the unchallenged Jackson Irvine from the penalty spot was not a major problem for Düsseldorf’s goalkeeper Florian Kastenmeier, who had been strong for weeks (11th minute). Just a minute later, Kastenmeier’s counterpart Nikola Vasilj also had to show his full skills for the first time when he saved a powerful shot from Emmanuel Iyoha after a corner kick.
In the 22nd minute, the goalkeeper didn’t look so happy when Hennings caught him on the wrong foot when he countered after Dawid Kownacki’s header with a hard shot into the near post – the 1-0. The Hamburgers shook themselves briefly, stayed brave and played forward. They almost fell even further behind in the 40th minute when Hennings ran to Vasilj on his own, but this time he was only the second winner. Timo Schultz’ team also had another good opportunity, but Kastenmeier defused Etienne Amenyido’s shot from 18 meters and Marcel Hartel’s follow-up shot (44′). Fortuna’s break lead was a bit happy overall, it could have been 2:2.
Fazliji sees red – St. Pauli outnumbered
The second half also started energetically, both Düsseldorf and St. Pauli had promising chances to score in the first few minutes, but both ended up with the goalkeepers (50th, 53rd). Almost an hour had been played when what had previously been a very fair game suddenly became heated. Kownacki pushed against Fazliji and the Hamburg defender then let himself be carried away to a headbutt against the Düsseldorf player, which was not executed with great force, but was rightly punished as assault by referee Frank Willenborg: sending off (58th).
As a result, the Düsseldorfers were unable to convert the numerical superiority into great playful advantages. Instead, the Hamburg team continued to run, but no longer had the necessary luck and, towards the end, no longer had the very large energy reserves. Dusseldorf finally saved the threesome over time.
Düsseldorf in Hanover, St. Pauli against Kiel
Fortuna must pass the 16th matchday away at Hannover 96 (Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 at 6.30 p.m.). At the same time, St. Pauli is challenged at home in the northern duel against Holstein Kiel.