Köln is back on track after an impressive road win in Hamburg. The Millerntor was packed as an in-form St.Pauli attempted to overpower the visitors, but Köln was simply too clever – and ruthless in front of goal. They jumped out to a lead, and when Pauli’s Gonter got his ass tossed after an hour, it was all over. Certainly one of Köln’s best performances of the season, and it allowed them to seize the leadership again, after Lautern was upended.
Leaders Kaiserslautern wilted under the pressure, as a fired up Dresden side beat them down in an exciting match. Dynamo was actually the dominant side, although Lautern used their greater talent and efficiency to grab a lead, unlike other matches, Dynamo didn’t stop coming after the setback, and were rewarded with a well deserved victory.
Union Berlin has lost their way, and despite an energetic effort, they suffer another defeat. Visitors Aalen gave no quarter, and although they were pushed back, remained dangerous on the counters, and eventually laid their hosts bare. Great victory for them, and Union is left to regroup and examine the ruins of their campaign.
Düsseldorf remains in crisis after a dismal outing where promoted Karlsruhe ran rings around them. Fortuna has continued to struggle, and the board finally acted, firing head coach Mike Büskens after the match (The 7th coaching casualty in the 2.Liga yjis season!). KSC is having a fine season and might start having some ambitions of challenging.
Sandhausen continued their revival with a nice win at Ingolstadt, who have also shown signs of life, including winning at Köln last week. The Schanzer undoubtedly hoped to continue and leap out of the relegation zone, but SVS was ready for them and took advantage of ther chances.
This was clearly a chance for Greuther Fürth to make a statement and command respect at the top. They were facing last place Cottbus and scored early in the match. But the statement they made was certainly not to appealing to their fans, more like “who cares?!”. Instead, Energie seized control of the match in the 2nd half, and despite being a man down in the stretch run, looked very close to equalizing. Very disappointing from Greuther Fürth, although they do get the points.
Generally a crap match on display in Paderborn, facing Aue. No one really cares.
Bochum had been playing well, and 1860 is the most inconsistent team in Germany. So who knows what will happen? well, as it turns out, a pretty entertaining match. Bochum showed that their improvement seems to be lasting, and pressed. 1860 however decided that this would be a “good” performance, and showed cleverness in counterattack and solid defending. The Lions steal the points with a good outing, although Bochum might feel a bit hard done by.
Fortuna Düsseldorf - Karlsruher SC 0:2 (0:1) 27,453
0:1 Alibaz (28., Kempe)
0:2 Peitz (71., Alibaz)
1. FC Union Berlin - VfR Aalen 1:3 (0:0) 17,236
0:1 Valentini (59., unglas)
1:1 Mattuschka (62., direct freekick)
1:2 Valentini (72., Reichwein)
1:3 Klauß (90. + 3, Junglas)
FC St. Pauli - 1. FC Köln 0:3 (0:2) 29,063 *
0:1 Wimmer (6., Helmes)
0:2 Helmes (28., D. Halfar)
0:3 Gerhardt (79., M. Lehmann)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - SV Sandhausen 0:2 (0:2) 4,050
0:1 Adler (16., Tüting)
0:2 Adler (39., Schauerte)
Dynamo Dresden - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 3:2 (1:1) 28,368
1:0 Kempe (41., Ouali)
1:1 Occean (45., Löwe)
1:2 Gaus (73., Idrissou)
2:2 Ouali (78.)
3:2 Dedic (80., Ouali)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - Energie Cottbus 1:0 (1:0) 9,110
1:0 Trinks (5., Mavraj)
SC Paderborn 07 - Erzgebirge Aue 1:1 (1:0) 6,005
1:0 Wemmer (32.)
1:1 Novikovas (78., direct free kick)
VfL Bochum - 1860 München 1:2 (1:1) 17,479
0:1 D. Stahl (10., Volz)
1:1 Tasaka (35., Tiffert)
1:2 Adlung (61., Stoppelkamp)
Monday:
FSV Frankfurt - Arminia Bielefeld -:- (-:-)
1 1. FC Köln 16 8 6 2 24:7 +17 30
2 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (A) 16 9 2 5 30:17 +13 29
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3 1. FC Kaiserslautern 16 8 4 4 30:17 +13 28
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4 Karlsruher SC (N) 16 7 5 4 21:14 +7 26
5 FC St. Pauli 16 7 4 5 22:21 +1 25
6 1. FC Union Berlin 16 7 4 5 22:22 0 25
7 1860 München 16 7 3 6 14:16 -2 24
8 SV Sandhausen 16 6 5 5 15:14 +1 23
9 VfR Aalen 16 6 4 6 16:16 0 22
10 VfL Bochum 16 6 3 7 18:16 +2 21
11 SC Paderborn 07 16 5 5 6 26:30 -4 20
12 Erzgebirge Aue 16 6 2 8 21:27 -6 20
13 FSV Frankfurt 15 5 4 6 21:20 +1 19
14 Dynamo Dresden 16 4 7 5 18:25 -7 19
15 Fortuna Düsseldorf (A) 16 5 4 7 15:25 -10 19
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16 FC Ingolstadt 04 16 5 2 9 15:23 -8 17
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17 Arminia Bielefeld (N) 15 4 2 9 18:29 -11 14
18 Energie Cottbus 16 3 4 9 19:26 -7 13
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