Restart in the 3.Liga, and despite the cold, things heated up immediately. The top match featured leaders Osnabrück facing off against streaking Karlsruhe. KSC remains the hottest club, but Osnabrück did themselves no favors, as they quickly fell behind and GK Marcus Rickert got his ass tossed early for a foul outside the box. A contraversial penalty a few minutes later and another goal gave KSC the commanding lead. VfL fans started bombarding the field with snowballs, which led to a 10 minute interruption. To the home side credit, in the 2nd half they tried mightily to get back into the game, and despite coming close, were unable to get a draw.
Bielefeld actually started things off on Friday night, and Arminia reaffirmed their promotion ambition with a solid win over Offenbach. Despite playing the last half hour a man down, the hosts controlled the match against the Kickers, who once again disappointed in league – Offenbach has made it to the Quarterfinals of the Cup, and I guess that’s all they’re worried about.
Preußen Münster remained on track with a tough win in Rostock. Despite going down a man on a questionable call, the Preussen were generally able to run rings around Hansa on the frozen field – they even missed a penalty. Rostock tried hard to pressure in the 2nd half, but were basically running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and a Münster counter near the end delivered the coup-de-grace. A horrible season continues for the frsutrated Hansa fans, but good win for Preussen.
A critical relegation battle in Halle, but the hosts remain 9 straight without a win at home. Good point for Stuttgarter Kickers. Wehen also got a rare win, important points in a relegation tussle with Babelsberg.
Despite the weather, only two matches canceled, attendance was total 53,227 (avg 6,653), not too bad.
Arminia Bielefeld - Kickers Offenbach 3:1 (1:1) 7,560 SV Wehen Wiesbaden - SV Babelsberg 03 1:0 (1:0) 2,217 1. FC Heidenheim - SpVgg Unterhaching 2:1 (2:0) 7,500 Hallescher FC - Stuttgarter Kickers 1:1 (1:1) 5,211 VfL Osnabrück - Karlsruher SC 2:3 (0:2) 11,200 Alemannia Aachen - 1. FC Saarbrücken 2:0 (1:0) 8,389 Wacker Burghausen - Borussia Dortmund II 2:2 (1:2) 2,150 Hansa Rostock - Preußen Münster 0:2 (0:1) 9,000 SV Darmstadt 98 - Chemnitzer FC canceled VfB Stuttgart II - Rot-Weiß Erfurt canceled 1 VfL Osnabrück 23 14 5 4 38:17 +21 47 2 Karlsruher SC (A) 23 13 7 3 42:16 +26 46 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Preußen Münster 23 13 7 3 40:17 +23 46 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Arminia Bielefeld 22 12 6 4 36:22 +14 42 5 SpVgg Unterhaching 22 11 6 5 37:28 +9 39 6 1. FC Heidenheim 22 11 4 7 38:32 +6 37 7 Chemnitzer FC 22 8 6 8 32:29 +3 30 8 Wacker Burghausen 22 9 3 10 29:32 -3 30 9 VfB Stuttgart II 21 8 5 8 27:25 +2 29 10 Hansa Rostock (A) 22 8 5 9 22:29 -7 29 11 Kickers Offenbach 22 7 5 10 31:32 -1 26 12 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 21 4 13 4 27:29 -2 25 13 1. FC Saarbrücken 22 7 4 11 28:37 -9 25 14 SV Babelsberg 03 21 6 5 10 17:27 -10 23 15 Alemannia Aachen (A) 21 5 7 9 22:30 -8 22 16 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 21 5 7 9 25:37 -12 22 17 Hallescher FC (N) 23 5 7 11 19:33 -14 22 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Stuttgarter Kickers (N) 22 5 6 11 22:26 -4 21 19 Borussia Dortmund II (N) 22 4 7 11 21:40 -19 19 20 SV Darmstadt 98 21 3 7 11 18:33 -15 16 A = Absteiger just Relegated N = Neuling just promoted 1st line: Promotion to 2.Liga 2nd line: Promotion Playoff with 2.Liga 16th place 3rd line: Relegation to Regionalliga Alemannia Aachen basically relegated due to pending insolvency.
Looks like KSC is going to do an Eintracht and bounce straight back. They’re on fire at the moment and desrve to be playing higher. BTW what are the trends with relegated teams bouncing straight back the next season? Hertha did the yo-yo thing the last two years and seem to be heading back up again this year.
And of course my beloved Lillien look to be heading dow this year too so I’ll be hoping for a rebound next year.