Mith a strong comeback, SV Darmstadt 98 secured an important victory in the promotion race and at least temporarily took over the top of the table in the 2nd Bundesliga. The Hessians turned a 0:2 deficit to a 3:2 (0:1) home win against 1. FC Heidenheim on Friday evening.
Aaron Seydel (77′), Phillip Tietz (81′) and Tim Skarke (83′) scored three goals within six minutes in front of a good 11,000 spectators for the joy of Darmstadt. With two points more than Werder Bremen, the lilies are in first place, at least for the time being. Coach Torsten Lieberknecht praised the morale as “madness” on the pay TV channel Sky.
Christian Kühlwetter (17th minute) and Robert Leipertz (61st), who had just come on as a substitute, had given the guests the lead. Heidenheim ended up without a win for the fourth time in a row and is eight points behind Darmstadt. “You can’t put that into words at first,” said Darmstadt’s goalscorer Tietz: “It’s pure joy. You can see what kind of team we are, we believe in ourselves.” Heidenheim goalkeeper Kevin Müller found his “crucial mistake” at 2: 3 “extremely bitter”, as he said on Sky: “It’s on me. “
The southern Hessians got into the game better. The FCH punished Darmstadt’s first negligence with the opening goal through cool weather, which only had to be pushed in after good preliminary work. The hosts had more of a share of the game as the game progressed, but hardly had any chances.
FCH made a more determined impression in front of the goal and made it 2-0 through Leipertz after goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen let a shot ricochet forward. However, the hosts did not give up and only managed to get the goal back with a shot from Seydel from the edge of the penalty area before Tietz equalized with a header. Skarke turned the game around when Heidenheim’s goalkeeper Müller slipped the ball through.
Paderborn punishes Kiel’s defensive mistakes
Holstein Kiel continues its negative run. The second division soccer team lost 3:4 (1:1) to SC Paderborn on Friday evening and thus lost the third game in a row. Ron Schallenberg (19′), Maximilian Thalhammer (54′), Florent Muslija (74′) and Jamilu Collins (76′) scored for Paderborn. Kiel’s goals came from Fiete Arp (23′), Alexander Mühling (81’/penalty) and Benedikt Pichler (87′). “For the opponent, every chance felt like a goal. We conceded the goals too easily,” criticized Holstein trainer Marcel Rapp.
The coach made six changes to the starting eleven compared to the 2-0 draw against Hannover 96. Simon Lorenz, Patrick Erras, Lewis Holtby, Steven Skrzybski, Ahmet Arslan and Fiete Arp were on the field from the start of the game this time. Kiel nearly took the lead in the 12th minute when Steven Skrzybski hit the post with a head. Instead, the guests managed to make it 1-0. Schallenberg used the first chance for Paderborn to score the opening goal.
Just four minutes later, Kiel equalized. Fabian Reese’s shot was deflected, but landed in front of Arp’s feet, who pushed the ball into the goal to make it 1-1. Overall, Kiel was the more active team, but did not act as effectively as Paderborn. The back team of Kiel favored the goals of the guests with some gross mistakes. Thalhammer, who scored a header to make it 2-1 for Paderborn, Muslija and Collins consistently used their chances to make it 4-1 in the meantime. “Our game is flawed, defensively flawed and offensively flawed,” said sporting director Uwe Stöver. “We have to punish ourselves and improve a lot.”
Coach Rapp could no longer understand the world. “It was a crazy gameplay,” he said. “Suddenly it’s 4-1 for the opponent – and you don’t really know why. The first half was more than decent. But after the 1:4 it was a completely different game.”
Mühling’s hand penalty and Benedikt Pichler’s 3:4 gave hope to the 9,471 spectators. “We showed morale,” said substitute Fin Bartels. “But still: 3: 4 at home – that is of course very sobering.”
The equalizer hoped for by the spectators in the last few minutes didn’t materialise. “With a bit of luck we’ll equalize,” regretted Rapp and made it clear: “We’ll stick together and get out of there.” We are aware of the situation.”
