With a courageous and playful performance, the “Lilien” escaped a zero round in December. SV Darmstadt 98 said goodbye to the short Christmas holidays on Tuesday evening with a 3-3 draw at TSG Hoffenheim. A sign of life from the table cellar that should be encouraging. The South Hesse team, who came to the bottom of the Bundesliga in North Baden, deserved the draw because they were able to do more than just stand up to the favorites. We fell behind three times, but found a suitable answer three times – mainly because of the strong Tim Skarke.
SVD coach Torsten Lieberknecht admitted the day before the match that “it wears you down when you’re always on it and could get more”. The 50-year-old had, as he said, made a few demands to his players: tougher competition, getting the most out of themselves, and being less nice.
At the end of the year, Lieberknecht made two changes to the starting eleven in his remaining core squad – eight potential regulars were out due to injury or illness – compared to the 0-1 home defeat against Wolfsburg three days ago. Bringing Tobias Kempe and Matthias Bader was a good move because the two technicians gave Darmstadt’s game more ball and passing security. Especially since the trained right-back Bader found himself on the right side of the attack. Which contributed to the fact that the Darmstadt team appeared courageous and forward-looking despite their negative series.
Gjasula concedes a penalty
However, the promoted team found no remedy against TSG striker Ihlas Bebou, who put the “lilies” in serious trouble. After just two minutes of the game, a rescue effort was needed against the fast Togolese. But in the 14th minute it was too quick for the Darmstadt team. Bebou played a simple through ball – and because goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen left his penalty area too inhibited and central defender Klaus Gjasula took full risk in his attempted save, there was a penalty for the Kraichgauer team, which Kramaric used to score the lead. In the 28th minute, the “Lilien” made it easy for Bebou to score himself: Because defender Isherwood was going astray and Gjasula had also criminally exposed the center, the passage was free for Bebou – TSG had a 2-1 lead.
Only 2-1 because Luca Pfeiffer’s spell had been broken five minutes earlier. The attacker, who had returned to southern Hesse and had previously only hit the post and crossbar this season, skilfully completed a sharp cross from Bartol Franjic in center forward style. The SVD were in the mood to play, and Skarke’s deflected shot shortly afterwards also posed danger. But overall, the “Lilien” were only able to enjoy the equalizer for a short time. So, despite some good approaches and well-executed attacks, they went into the second half with a stumbling block.
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But that didn’t seem to bother the people of Darmstadt. Rather, they continued to make progress – and were rewarded with another equalizer in the 57th minute. This was thanks to the agile Skarke, who was successful with his special discipline: receiving with the left, finishing with the right. But the “Lilien” had made their renewed hopeful calculations without Bebou. The 29-year-old was the big spoilsport for the southern Hesse team. It was easy for Bebou to shake off his overwhelmed opponent Isherwood in the 67th minute and then score precisely to make it 3-2 for the North Baden team.
While the goal melody was still playing in the Sinsheim Arena, which was sparsely packed with 18,125 spectators, goalkeeper Schuhen made a powerful appeal to those in front of him. Despite the third setback, the Darmstadt team’s body language promised continued willingness to fight against Hoffenheim, who had previously been weak at home this season. And indeed: First the “Liliens” needed luck when Brooks missed a shot from close range (80th), but then they had a suitable answer ready for the third time: A Hoffenheim loss of the ball led to a shot opportunity for the strong Skarke, which he did not miss let – 3:3 (85th)!
