Ingolstadt outfought Braunschweig and hold the top spot. The Schanzer just seemed to want it a little more than Eintracht, and they ended up taking one of the few chances to get a winner. Certainly a surprise that they top the table, but they’re the only unbeaten team, so they must be doing something right. Braunschweig has generally played poorly, certainly giving less effort than in their Bundesliga season.
Kaiserslautern played one of their best matches against Karlsruhe, The home side was dominant and wanted the win, KSC was too passive and was overrun.
A rare sellout at promoted Darmstadt, perhaps because the fans hadn’t been believing that teh 98ers could mount anything. This time, they packed the stadium, and unfortunately they were caught with their pants down, as visiting Fortuna Düsseldorf ripped their ass. The home side had some hope when they scored just after half, but Benschop put an end to that dream almost immediately after the re-whistle. Outstanding for Fortuna was Finnish striker Joel Pohjanpalo, who grabbed 3 goals and generally caused chaos in the Darmstadt defense. Both should still be considered contenders, although this might have been a “statement” match for Düsseldorf.
Bochum probably should have beaten Nürnberg. Despite a decent performance by der Club, Bochum was just too wasteful on chances, and get stuck with a draw. Perhaps it’s still a hangover from their drubbing in Heidenheim. For FCN, at least they got a point, which even in a promotion battle would have been a good result.
Greuther Fürth had a relatively easy time winning against Erzgebirge Aue. Teh visitors had been playing better to get out of the bottom, but were basically back to their old tricks and looked pretty lame.
Aalen got an important win against 1860, stopping their slide. The hosts were just more energetic in the 2nd period, and a couple of late goals gave them a key victory.
FSV Frankfurt stunned Sandhausen, who had been playing somewhat decently in the last few weeks. This time however SVS was totally lame, so the Bornheimer ran around and did whatever they pleased, getting a key win that has stopped their slide.
Union Berlin started brightly in Hamburg, but when Jopek got tossed after 22 minutes for a last man foul, it was easy sailing for St.Pauli. This was a needed result for the homeside, and a disaster for Berlin, who now prop up the table!
Monday night saw a hardfought match in Leipzig, as Heidenheim showed they would be no pushover for the Redballsportlers. The RasenBulls did equalize an early FCH strike with a nice free kick by Kaiser, but that was about all they could achieve against the disciplined visitors.
Total attendance 162,886 (avg 18,098), sellouts in St.Pauli and Darmstadt
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - Erzgebirge Aue 2:0 (2:0) 12,690
1:0 Weilandt (8., Schröck)
2:0 Weilandt (17.)
VfR Aalen - 1860 München 2:0 (0:0) 9,226
1:0 Weiß (83., Ludwig)
2:0 Feick (85.)
VfL Bochum - 1. FC Nürnberg 1:1 (1:0) 25,094
1:0 Gregoritsch (44., Tasaka)
1:1 Sylvestr (56., Schöpf)
1. FC Kaiserslautern - Karlsruher SC 2:0 (2:0) 39,079
1:0 Lakic (20., Gaus)
2:0 Gaus (35., Lakic)
FC St. Pauli - 1. FC Union Berlin 3:0 (1:0) 29,063 *
1:0 Nöthe (23., penalty, Budimir)
2:0 Rzatkowski (73.)
3:0 Verhoek (88., Alushi)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - Eintr. Braunschweig 1:0 (0:0) 7,750
1:0 Hinterseer (46., P. Groß)
SV Sandhausen - FSV Frankfurt 0:3 (0:0) 5,014
0:1 Toski (51., Kruska)
0:2 Kapllani (64., penalty, Kapllani)
0:3 Grifo (88., Schembri)
SV Darmstadt 98 - Fortuna Düsseldorf 1:4 (0:2) 16,150 *
0:1 Pohjanpalo (12., da Silva Pinto)
0:2 Pohjanpalo (26.,)
1:2 Kempe (46., Stroh-Engel)
1:3 Benschop (47., Bellinghausen)
1:4 Pohjanpalo (57., Schmitz)
Monday:
RB Leipzig - 1. FC Heidenheim 1:1 (1:1) 18,820
0:1 Heise (21., chnatterer)
1:1 D. Kaiser (31., direct freekick)
1 FC Ingolstadt 04 9 5 4 0 16:6 +10 19
2 1. FC Kaiserslautern 9 5 2 2 15:11 +4 17
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3 Fortuna Düsseldorf 9 4 4 1 18:11 +7 16
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4 RasenBallsport Leipzig (N) 9 4 4 1 14:7 +7 16
5 1. FC Heidenheim (N) 9 4 3 2 19:12 +7 15
6 SV Darmstadt 98 (N) 9 4 3 2 14:10 +4 15
7 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 9 4 2 3 14:9 +5 14
8 VfL Bochum 9 3 5 1 17:13 +4 14
9 Karlsruher SC 9 3 3 3 11:10 +1 12
10 FC St. Pauli 9 3 2 4 11:15 -4 11
11 Eintracht Braunschweig (A) 9 3 1 5 12:12 0 10
12 SV Sandhausen 9 3 1 5 6:12 -6 10
13 1. FC Nürnberg (A) 9 3 1 5 10:17 -7 10
14 VfR Aalen 9 2 3 4 8:11 -3 9
15 1860 München 9 2 3 4 10:14 -4 9
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16 FSV Frankfurt 9 2 2 5 11:18 -7 8
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17 Erzgebirge Aue 9 2 1 6 6:15 -9 7
18 1. FC Union Berlin 9 1 4 4 6:15 -9 7
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
A = Absteiger just relegated
N = Neuling just promoted