The races at both ends of the tables are hot. For the promotion spots, things are very tight, with five clubs having very legit shots. Positions are likely to change every week. At the bottom, a lot of postponed games are in the mix, so there could be some shifting as well.
The huge match was the regional derby in Münster, where Preußen upended leaders Osnabrück. The hero was Mehmet Kara, who opened with a hat-trick in 25 minutes. Kara was a winter transfer from Turkish SuperLig side Genclerbirligi and after a couple of subs, has now started two games. Result? 5 goals. With teh great start, Preussen obviously controlled the match, and VfL never really was able to get back in.
Karlsruhe had a hard time, but deservedly won against Offenbach, and have retaken the top spot.
Bielefeld was also a big winner, with a clear win at Babelsberg. Arminia has lots of injury problems, and obviously Bablesberg is desperate, but the visitors remained in control. The match was essentially decided after 50 minutes, when Babelsberg’s keeper got red carded for handling outside the box. With a goal lead, Arminia was able to bring home the bacon easily.
Heidenheim remains in the hunt with a solid win at troubled Rostock. Expect more rioting in Hansa-land…
From other matches, the most interesting note is that Wehen gets their 16th draw of the campaign.
On Sunday, a critical relegation battle, and Darmstadt blew it, losing to Halle. The 98ers were dominant in the 1st half, and should have added to their lead. The guests opened up in the 2nd and eventually equalized, and then cruelly stole the whole game with a goal in injury time. Halle is now pretty much safe, and Darmstadt is in dire straits. Perhaps they shouldn’t have brought in Mark Knopfler as head coach…
Total attendance this weekend was 55,081 (avg 6,120), with one sellout in Münster.
SV Wehen Wiesbaden - Wacker Burghausen 1:1 (0:1) 2,104 Preußen Münster - VfL Osnabrück 3:1 (3:1) 15,050 * Chemnitzer FC - VfB Stuttgart II 1:0 (0:0) 3,950 Hansa Rostock - 1. FC Heidenheim 0:2 (0:1) 7,700 Karlsruher SC - Kickers Offenbach 2:1 (1:0) 11,712 Rot-Weiß Erfurt - 1. FC Saarbrücken 1:2 (0:1) 4,869 SpVgg Unterhaching - Alemannia Aachen 1:0 (0:0) 1,300 SV Babelsberg 03 - Arminia Bielefeld 0:2 (0:1) 3,696 Stuttgarter Kickers - Borussia Dortmund II canceled Sunday: SV Darmstadt 98 - Hallescher FC 1:2 (1:0) 4,700 1 Karlsruher SC (A) 28 16 9 3 49:17 +32 57 2 VfL Osnabrück 28 17 5 6 46:23 +23 56 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Arminia Bielefeld 27 16 7 4 47:24 +23 55 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Preußen Münster 27 15 8 4 46:21 +25 53 5 1. FC Heidenheim 28 16 4 8 53:38 +15 52 6 SpVgg Unterhaching 27 12 6 9 39:38 +1 42 7 Chemnitzer FC 27 11 7 9 37:33 +4 40 8 Wacker Burghausen 25 10 5 10 32:34 -2 35 9 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 28 6 16 6 32:34 -2 34 10 Hallescher FC (N) 28 8 7 12 27:37 -10 34 11 VfB Stuttgart II 24 9 5 10 28:29 -1 32 12 Kickers Offenbach 26 8 6 12 35:36 -1 30 13 1. FC Saarbrücken 28 8 6 14 36:49 -13 30 14 Hansa Rostock (A) 25 8 5 12 24:35 -11 29 15 Stuttgarter Kickers (N) 26 7 6 13 28:32 -4 27 16 Alemannia Aachen (A) 26 6 9 11 26:36 -10 27 17 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 25 6 7 12 29:44 -15 25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 SV Babelsberg 03 26 6 6 14 19:35 -16 24 19 SV Darmstadt 98 26 4 9 13 20:38 -18 21 20 Borussia Dortmund II (N) 25 4 9 12 24:44 -20 21 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.
Mark Knopfler. Cool. If only he could coach. They had to do something, the other bloke did nothing. No words of wisdom, no reputation, no ideas, few points. The bottom of the ladder looks interesting though. Lots of games against each other. If Darmstadt want to stay up, they have the chance to get points against Stuttgart 2, Aachen, Dortmund II, Erfurt and Stuttgarter Kickers in the next weeks. But they will need to win these because they are probably going to get slaughtered by KSC, Osnabrueck, Muenster and Offenbach will want to exact some revenge.
I would like to see Darmstadt stay up, as they qualify as a “traditional”. But they seem to blow their chance (they had Halle beat) and are falling apart at the seams. In fact, they almost started fighting with each other during the match, such is the frustration level. (It would have been *funny* if the ref had red-carded the players involved, although I don’t think the fans would have seen the humour). That said, a mini-run would be enough, plus the fact that Aachen is essentially relegated automatically. This could go down to the bitter end…
I’m bracing myself for relegation, and hoping against it. It’s something we’re used to in good ol’ Sued Hesse’. I mean if Wuppertal can enjoy the lofty heights of the Regionalliga then I gues Darmstadt can have a couple of season off!