Some clarity at the top – Karlsruhe and Bielefeld have seized control of the automatic promotion spots and threaten to leave the competition in the dust. It wasn’t easy however, as KSC needed a late goal to beat down a desperately battling Babelsberg. Arminia also had a tough assignment, but finally overpowered the difficult Wehen squad (Note that Wehen has lost fewer games than anybody but the top 3). The Bielefeld Alm exploded in cheers when Arminia finally took control, as Wehen gave no quarter throughout the match.
Preußen Münster is in control of the playoff spot, a difficult effort at Offenbach gives them the critical 3 points.
The biggest “loser” is probably Osnabrück. They faced off in a critical battle with Heidenheim, and the hard fought match ended up breaking the soul of the Vfl fans, as FCH scored the equalizer in injury time. The resulting draw means that VfL drops further behind, and unlike their competition, they have no makeup games to potentially gain points. Obviously a decent result for Heidenheim.
The relegation battle is if anything even hotter than the promotion race. Erfurt got a huge win against Haching to save slightly above the morass. Dortmund II is making a late charge, and they got a great win over Darmstadt in a direct relegation battle. This allows the junior BVBers to move out of a relegation spot for the first time in ages.
Hansa Rostock probably ended worries about teh drop with a wild shootout at Aachen, who despite assured relegation is still giving decent effort.
Stuttgarter Kickers also got a great result at Burghausen, under their new coach Massimo Morales. Marco Grüttner (17 goals) turned the game with a 2nd half hat-trick, giving the Kickers critical points.
Upcoming midweek are a a bunch of makeup matches.
Total attendance this round was 59,531 (avg 5,953)
Alemannia Aachen - Hansa Rostock 3:4 (2:1) 9,323 Karlsruher SC - SV Babelsberg 03 2:1 (1:0) 12,102 Rot-Weiß Erfurt - SpVgg Unterhaching 1:0 (0:0) 4,245 Wacker Burghausen - Stuttgarter Kickers 1:4 (1:1) 2,200 VfB Stuttgart II - Hallescher FC 3:0 (0:0) 680 VfL Osnabrück - 1. FC Heidenheim 2:2 (1:1) 9,600 Arminia Bielefeld - SV Wehen Wiesbaden 3:1 (1:1) 10,399 Borussia Dortmund II - SV Darmstadt 98 1:0 (0:0) 1,108 1. FC Saarbrücken - Chemnitzer FC 2:0 (1:0) 3,711 Kickers Offenbach - Preußen Münster 0:1 (0:0) 6,163 1 Karlsruher SC (A) 33 20 9 4 58:21 +37 69 2 Arminia Bielefeld 33 19 10 4 55:27 +28 67 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Preußen Münster 32 17 11 4 55:26 +29 62 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 VfL Osnabrück 33 18 7 8 55:33 +22 61 5 1. FC Heidenheim 32 18 6 8 60:43 +17 60 6 Chemnitzer FC 32 13 8 11 45:39 +6 47 7 SpVgg Unterhaching 33 13 8 12 42:43 -1 47 8 VfB Stuttgart II 32 11 9 12 33:33 0 42 9 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 33 8 18 7 41:42 -1 42 10 Wacker Burghausen 33 11 8 14 37:43 -6 41 11 1. FC Saarbrücken 33 11 8 14 46:53 -7 41 12 Hallescher FC (N) 32 10 8 14 30:43 -13 38 13 Hansa Rostock (A) 32 10 7 15 32:46 -14 37 14 Kickers Offenbach 32 10 8 14 38:38 0 36 15 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 31 9 8 14 32:46 -14 35 16 Stuttgarter Kickers (N) 33 8 7 18 33:44 -11 31 17 Borussia Dortmund II (N) 30 7 10 13 28:46 -18 31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 SV Darmstadt 98 32 6 12 14 23:39 -16 30 19 SV Babelsberg 03 31 7 8 16 23:40 -17 29 20 Alemannia Aachen (A) 32 6 10 16 32:53 -21 26 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 Aachen and Offenbach deducted two points for financial shenanigans Aachen is also basically relegated due to pending insolvency.