Somebody better start giving Paderborn respect, as the Westfalen are now knocking at the Bundesliga door. SCP was impressive in wasting Bochum, despite falling behind they really didn’t get bothered. A couple of “direct path” goals by Albanian international Alban Meha (one directly from a corner kick!) put the home side on the way to victory.
Ex-Fortuna coach Nobert Meier returned with his new club Bielefeld, but although Arminia played a decent first half, they were overpowered by host Düsseldorf.
Kaiserslautern is a a major crisis, as they suffered a disastrous loss at tail-end Cottbus. Energie’s Sven Michel had a long blast to open up the match, and a battling Cottbus side made it stand up. FCK couldn’t figure out how to get back, and have really slipped in the promotion battle. They’re not far behind on points, but they’ll have a lot of bodies to climb over to get to where they want to be. Perhaps they’ve got distracted by their great Cup run.
Saturday matches had Sandhausen dominating against 1860 (how embarassing is that, Lions?). However despite controlling the match, SVS is pretty crap when in front of goal, and the 1860 GK, veteran Gabor Kiraly, was pretty sharp.
Leaders Köln had their hands full at Aue, as Erzgebirge went all out to get critical relegation points. However Köln showed some mettle, as they came roaring back in an end spurt to claim a point. Aue looks to have fought their way to safety.
Greuther Fürth stunk against FSV Frankfurt and was lucky to get a win. The hosts struggled to corral their relegation threatened guests, and even found themselves trailing at half. They did manage to get back in and win it at the end, but they hardly deserved it. Nevertheless, critical points for Greuther Fürth in the promotion race.
Karlsruhe was stunned in Aalen, having their 12 game undefeated streak stopped. The KSC fans were beginning to dream of a return to the Bundesliga before getting slapped in the face. Aalen needed a result in the relegation battle, and never let the visitors get their game going.
Ingolstadt missed a golden opportunity against Dresden. The Schanzer got off to a dream start, but then largely dicked around.
This allowed Dynamo back into the game, and they equalized. FCI was incapable of restarting their engine, and the visitors at least wanted to secure a point.
The Monday night clash between St.Pauli and Union turned out to be quite the match. The Paulistas had lost their last three against Union at home, and even failed to score. But in front of a sold-out crowd the “Kiez-kicker” raised their game when they needed and knocked off the Berliners. After Union started well, St.Pauli began to assert control, but were unable to break through. After the restart, the guests once again were dominate, and they managed to take the lead. Pauli struck back quickly, and then the two sides neutralized each other in midfield, until both opened up for a last gasp assault. It looked like Union would win, but they wasted very good chances. Instead the Hamburgers took their shot, and get the huge win. They’ve now vaulted into 4th place, leading the pack of chasing clubs.
Total attendance 129,165 (avg 14,352), sellout in Hamburg
Fortuna Düsseldorf - Arminia Bielefeld 2:0 (1:0) 33,478
1:0 Benschop (41., Hoffer)
2:0 Hoffer (74., Benschop)
Energie Cottbus - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 1:0 (1:0) 8,522
1:0 Michel (3., Bittroff)
SC Paderborn 07 - VfL Bochum 4:1 (0:1) 12,135
0:1 Latza (40.)
1:1 Meha (48., direct freekick)
2:1 Meha (69., direct corner)
3:1 Vrancic (71., Kachunga)
4:1 Saglik (80., penalty, Wemmer)
SV Sandhausen - 1860 München 0:0 (0:0) 5,030
Erzgebirge Aue - 1. FC Köln 2:2 (1:0) 13,050
1:0 Sylvestr (13., Kocer)
2:0 Löning (69., penalty, Sylvestr)
2:1 D. Halfar (83., Finne)
2:2 D. Halfar (89.)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - FSV Frankfurt 3:2 (1:2) 10,055
1:0 Gießelmann (10., direct freekick)
1:1 Epstein (35., penalty, Kapllani)
1:2 Kapllani (44., Leckie)
2:2 Fürstner (73., penalty, B. Röcker)
3:2 Mavraj (87., Stieber)
VfR Aalen - Karlsruher SC 1:0 (0:0) 8,729
1:0 B. Hübner (51., Lechleiter)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - Dynamo Dresden 1:1 (1:1) 8,533
1:0 Caiuby (1., Morales)
1:1 Koch (43., Ouali)
Monday:
FC St. Pauli - 1. FC Union Berlin 2:1 (0:0) 29,633 *
0:1 Terodde (58., Kreilach)
1:1 Schachten (61., Halstenberg)
2:1 Bartels (88., Halstenberg)
1 1. FC Köln 23 12 8 3 36:14 22 44
2 SpVgg Greuther Fürth (A) 23 12 4 7 41:28 +13 40
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3 SC Paderborn 07 23 11 6 6 43:35 +8 39
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4 FC St. Pauli 23 11 5 7 32:28 +4 38
5 Karlsruher SC (N) 23 9 9 5 30:21 +9 36
6 1. FC Union Berlin 23 10 6 7 35:29 +6 36
7 1. FC Kaiserslautern 23 10 4 9 35:25 +10 34
8 VfR Aalen 23 8 7 8 25:26 -1 31
9 SV Sandhausen 23 8 7 8 19:20 -1 31
10 1860 München 23 8 7 8 21:26 -5 31
11 Fortuna Düsseldorf (A) 23 8 7 8 25:31 -6 31
12 FC Ingolstadt 04 23 8 5 10 24:28 -4 29
13 Erzgebirge Aue 23 8 5 10 29:36 -7 29
14 FSV Frankfurt 23 7 6 10 34:37 -3 27
15 VfL Bochum 23 7 6 10 21:26 -5 27
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16 Dynamo Dresden 23 4 11 8 24:35 -11 23
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17 Arminia Bielefeld (N) 23 6 4 13 29:46 -17 22
18 Energie Cottbus 23 4 5 14 26:38 -12 17
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