Leaders Braunschweig suffer their first loss. Travel to Lausitz is never easy, and Cottbus’ “Stadion der Freundschaft” (Stadium of Friendship”) is anything but. Playing Energie away is always a daunting task, and this one was no different. Cottbus gave a courageous effort and were rewarded with a hard-fought win. Braunschweig was determined not to lose, and kept close and was always dangerous.
So Kaiserslautern is the only unbeaten squad left, and they faced a tough match against FSV Frankfurt. A good crowd (by FSV standards) watched as FCK ended up with a deserved victory. The visitors were the better side for most of the match, but the Bornheimers had a sustained period of pressure after the restart. There were a couple of incidents in the box that could have been called a penalty, but the whistle stayed silent and eventually FSV ran out of gas. Kaiserslautern then waltzed home with the points.
Union and 1860 had a hard-fought draw in Berlin. The 1860ers debuted their new coach, Alex Schmidt, who had to be mildly impressed with a decent effort, especially with oldtimer Benny Lauth’s double. The “Eiserne” (“Irons”) of Union let the game drift awy, but a strong closing phase earned them a fair draw.
Has Köln perhaps finally figured things out? In the 2.Liga, perhaps it only matters to suck less than your opponent. If that’s the case, then they put theory to practice against crap Bochum. The Kölners really didn’t do much, but they didn’t have to, since Bochum basically sucked more. Nigerian striker Anthony Ujah has been crap, but had a good game, and that was enough. Easy win for Köln and mid-table security, whereas Bochum remains in the toilet.
Paderborn had a tough time with struggling Dresden, who picked a good time to start fighting. SCP expected a win and pressed hard, but Dynamo managed a fightback, despite Schuppan kicking the ball into his own net. A good result for Dresden on the road, Paderborn needs better if they want to sneak into contention.
Two promoted sides with different experience in the 2.Liga met in Regensburg. Jahn goes out the loser against Aalen, and it’s basically like most their matches. They dick around and lose, despite often having a reasonable position. Maybe they want back in the 3.Liga already. Aalen on the other hand has played well, and looks at least to stick around this year. A fine performance by forward Robert Lechleiter got them going and a solid win.
Sunday:
A packed Millerntor saw St.Pauli get back on track against Duisburg. The home side dominated, but wasted some chances, allowing teh Zebras to snatch a lucky equalizer in injury time. However after restart, St.Pauli raised their pressure, and MSV cracked. Finally, Pamic got red-carded, and the Zebras were no longer able to resist, the rout was on.
Ingolstadt is not used to being the favorite, so they really didn’t know what to do against last place Sandhausen. They played well enough to grab a lead, but then dicked around aimlessly. Meanwhile, SVS knew what they had to do: fight for everyball, and they were rewarded with a late equalizer and deserved point.
Hertha made sure that Aue had no chance, the game was over right after the opening whistle. After only 24 seconds, Ramos headed in from Holland’s cross, and then Niedermeyer put them up two just a couple of minutes later. The Berliners then toyed around, deciding to pick another couple of goals in the 2nd half for an easy win. Aue showed nothing of the fight they’ve exhibited in some matches, Hertha controlling from start to finish.
Weekend attendance was 131,838 (avg 14,649), with two sellouts
1. FC Köln - VfL Bochum 3:1 (2:0) 40,000
1:0 Ujah (11., Brecko)
2:0 McKenna (35., Chihi)
3:0 Ujah (84., Bigalke)
3:1 Gelashvili (90.)
SC Paderborn 07 - Dynamo Dresden 2:2 (2:2) 9,127
1:0 Yilmaz (11., Brückner)
1:1 Ouali (14., Trojan)
2:1 Schuppan (21., own goal, Brückner)
2:2 Kitambala (38.)
Jahn Regensburg - VfR Aalen 1:3 (1:0) 5,000
1:0 Haag (44., Hein)
1:1 Valentini (76., Lechleiter)
1:2 Lechleiter (84.,Traut)
1:3 Reichwein (88., Lechleiter)
1. FC Union Berlin - 1860 München 2:2 (1:0) 16,750 *
1:0 Stuff (22., Mattuschka)
1:1 Lau
1:2 Lauth (70., Stoppelkamp)
2:2 Nemec (81., Stuff)
FSV Frankfurt - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 0:1 (0:1) 10,470
0:1 Bunjaku (18., penalty, Bunjaku)
Energie Cottbus - Eintracht Braunschweig 3:1 (2:1) 11,740
1:0 Sanogo (5., Kruska)
1:1 Kumbela (13., Dogan)
2:1 Börner (44., Stiepermann)
3:1 Brinkmann (81., Sanogo)
Sunday matches:
FC St. Pauli - MSV Duisburg 4:1 (1:1) 21,054 *
1:0 Ginczek (18., Avevor)
1:1 B. Kern (45. + 1)
2:1 Bartels (65., Buchtmann)
3:1 Bartels (74., Gogia)
4:1 Saglik (89., Daube)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - SV Sandhausen 1:1 (1:0) 6,547
1:0 Eigler (19., Leitl)
1:1 Klotz (82., Tüting)
Erzgebirge Aue - Hertha BSC 0:4 (0:2) 11,150
0:1 Ramos (1., Holland)
0:2 Niemeyer (8., Ronny)
0:3 Ronny (56., penalty, Sahar)
0:4 Allagui (74., Wagner)
1 Eintracht Braunschweig 15 10 4 1 26:9 +17 34
2 Hertha BSC Berlin (A) 15 9 5 1 30:12 +18 32
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3 1. FC Kaiserslautern (A) 15 8 7 0 28:16 +12 31
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4 FC Ingolstadt 04 15 6 6 3 20:17 +3 24
5 Energie Cottbus 15 8 4 3 23:14 +9 28
6 SC Paderborn 07 15 6 5 4 23:16 +7 23
7 VfR Aalen (N) 15 7 2 6 18:14 +4 23
8 1860 München 15 5 6 4 17:14 +3 21
9 FSV Frankfurt 15 6 3 6 19:18 +1 21
10 1. FC Köln (A) 15 5 5 5 18:18 0 20
11 1. FC Union Berlin 15 4 6 5 21:21 0 18
12 FC St. Pauli 15 4 6 5 17:18 -1 18
13 VfL Bochum 15 3 5 7 15:28 -13 14
14 Dynamo Dresden 15 3 4 8 18:25 -7 13
15 Erzgebirge Aue 15 3 4 8 17:25 -8 13
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16 MSV Duisburg 15 3 3 9 12:28 -16 12
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17 Jahn Regensburg (N) 15 3 1 11 18:28 -10 10
18 SV Sandhausen (N) 15 2 4 9 14:33 -19 10
A = Absteiger just Relegated
N = Neuling just promoted
1st line: Promotion to Bundesliga
2nd line: Playoff with 16th Bundesliga
3rd line: Playoff with no.3 of 3.Liga
4th line: Relegation to 3.Liga