The promotion battle now favors the leaders substantially. Rostock lost, and Osnabrück and Wehen dropped points, so a gap has opened to the leaders that will be hard to make up. They would have to start tumbling first, and they haven’t given much indication of that.
Heidenheim showed why they deserve top billing, as they visited a revived Stuttgarter Kickers. The hosts had been total crap, but have mounted a strong push since the winterbreak. And they were all over the leaders, and looked to break the 15 game unbeaten streak as they were up 3-0 in the 2nd half. But Heidenheim decided to show who was boss and came roaring back to tie. I think that pretty much showed the league that they can do whatever they want. However, a decent result for Kickers, although they are obvisouly disappointed they didn’t get the upset.
Leipzig dominated Elversberg, but didn’t seem too interested in doing anything but winning, which they did. This gives the RasenBulls a solid 5 point edge in the automatic promotion race. Things remain hot for Elversberg, but they probably weren’t expecting anything against the RedBallsportler.
Darmstadt dominated against Dortmund B and won easily. The 98ers are hoping for the Rasenballsportler to slip up, but can seriously think about a promotion chance regardless. Domink Stroh-Engel notched another two goals to bring his Germany leading total to 21. (1-2-3 ligas at least)
Rostock laid an egg in a eastern derby against Chemnitz. They really needed this to stay in touch at the top, so basically it looks over. On the other hand, CFC desperately needed a result in their relegation, so the win is a huge success. They probably deserved it as well, taking full advantage of Hansa’s dicking around aimlessly and grabbing the match when they had a chance.
A hard fought Westfalen derby in Münster, with both sides desperately wanting full points. It took them a while to get going, but after equalizing Osnabrück was clearly the stronger side and pressed hard for the win. But now they’re 7 points behind Darmstadt, which is going to be hard to make up.
Halle downed Unterhaching to keep the Bavarians looking nervously over their shoulder. HFC has steared to calm waters and have nothing to worry about.
Saarbrücken may have decided on a last gasp drive to avoid relegation, and came up with a deserved win in a hard fought match against Regensburg. This at least lifts them off the bottom.
Total attendance 87,122 (avg 8,712)
Rot Weiß Erfurt - Holstein Kiel 0:0 (0:0) 5,552 Hallescher FC - SpVgg Unterhaching 4:2 (1:0) 6,909 Preußen Münster - VfL Osnabrück 1:1 (1:0) 14,228 Wacker Burghausen - VfB Stuttgart II 2:2 (0:2) 1,870 MSV Duisburg - SV Wehen Wiesbaden 0:0 (0:0) 10,352 SV Darmstadt 98 - Borussia Dortmund II 3:0 (2:0) 7,100 Hansa Rostock - Chemnitzer FC 1:2 (1:1) 12,000 1. FC Saarbrücken - Jahn Regensburg 3:2 (1:1) 4,273 Stuttgarter Kickers - 1. FC Heidenheim 3:3 (1:0) 6,360 Sunday: RB Leipzig - SV Elversberg 2:0 (1:0) 18,478 1 1. FC Heidenheim 27 18 7 2 48:18 +30 61 2 RasenBallsport Leipzig (N) 27 16 4 7 42:26 +16 52 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 SV Darmstadt 98 27 13 8 6 44:23 +21 47 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 VfL Osnabrück 27 11 7 9 37:29 +8 40 5 Hansa Rostock 27 11 7 9 34:38 -4 40 6 SV Wehen Wiesbaden 27 10 9 8 30:32 -2 39 7 Stuttgarter Kickers 27 10 7 10 35:33 +2 37 8 MSV Duisburg (A) 27 9 10 8 33:33 0 37 9 Hallescher FC 27 11 4 12 33:35 -2 37 10 Rot Weiß Erfurt 27 10 6 11 37:31 +6 36 11 Jahn Regensburg (A) 27 9 8 10 39:38 +1 35 12 VfB Stuttgart II 27 9 7 11 35:36 -1 34 13 Borussia Dortmund II 27 10 4 13 36:42 -6 34 14 Preußen Münster 27 7 12 8 37:37 0 33 15 SpVgg Unterhaching 27 8 8 11 36:48 -12 32 16 SV Elversberg (N) 27 9 5 13 25:37 -12 32 17 Chemnitzer FC 27 7 10 10 27:37 -10 31 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Holstein Kiel (N) 27 6 11 10 27:27 0 29 19 1. FC Saarbrücken 27 6 7 14 31:47 -16 25 20 Wacker Burghausen 27 6 7 14 28:47 -19 25 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