Round 29, Apr 17-20
The relegation battle was turned up another notch, as the threatened clubs were desperately seeking points. And in fact all bottom four clubs got full points as they show that the battle will go to the bitter end.
St.Pauli set the stage on Friday night, with a tough performance against Nürnberg. The visitors were the better team for most of the match, having better chances and controlling the match. The Paulistas defended desperately and the packed house went nuts when Lars Sobiech headed home the winner in the final minute.
The story had a similar end in München. 1860 was locked in a difficult struggle with Bochum, and an injury time goal gave the Lions a crucial victory.
Aalen hasn’t given up either. They have the point deduction, and that is unlikely to be overturned. Therefore they desperately needed points, and the got them surprisingly against Braunschweig. Although the visiotrs took the lead, Aalen quickly bounced back and got the win in a gritty match.
Aue also got a win, perhaps somewhat easier, since FSV Frankfurt did very little in the whole match. Erzgebirge didn’t exactly impress, but pressured enough to get a deserved win.
Greuther Fürth should have been the fifth club with full points. However the hosts had trouble with Union, who basically defended the whole match. The Greuther fell behind early and spent most of the match chasing.
Ingolstadt can’t be stopped on their Bundesliga quest. The Schanzer were locked in a tough battle with Düsseldorf, and on the losing end until a late goal gave them the equalizer. Then in the 6th(!) minute of added time, Marvin Matip notched the winner for the homeside.
If Darmstadt fails, perhaps they will look back at this match. The 98ers struggled against Heidenheim, and didn’t really look like winners. But then they took the lead on a penalty, and only a couple of minutes later FCH was down a man, as Heise got his second yellow. So it looked all said and done for a Darmstadt victory. But the fellow promoted side from the 3.Liga wasn’t done. Florian Niederlechner came on as a sub, and after only seconds scored the equalizer. The remaining minutes actually had the visitors pressing, despite numerical disadvantage. The final result probably was fair, but Darmstadt seemingly had it in the bag.
Monday night is a huge match, as Kaiserslautern can move 2nd, and Leipzig needs a win if they are to keep their tiny promotion hope alive.
Total attendance 132,645 (avg 14,738), 51.7% capacity, sellout in Hamburg
FC St. Pauli - 1. FC Nürnberg 1:0 (0:0) 23,854 *
1:0 L. Sobiech (90., Daube)
FC Ingolstadt 04 - Fortuna Düsseldorf 3:2 (0:1) 10,606
0:1 Pohjanpalo (33.)
1:1 Mo. Hartmann (65.
1:2 Bebou (74., Bellinghausen)
2:2 Leckie (86., P. Groß)
3:2 Matip (90. + 6, P. Groß)
SV Sandhausen - Karlsruher SC 0:0 (0:0) 12,136
1860 München - VfL Bochum 2:1 (0:1) 16,000
0:1 Gregoritsch (16., Sestak)
1:1 M. Wolf (56., Adlung)
2:1 S. Hain (90. + 2, Vallori)
VfR Aalen - Eintracht Braunschweig 2:1 (0:0) 7,019
0:1 Boland (51., Omladic)
1:1 Quaner (54.)
2:1 Ofosu-Ayeh (69.)
SpVgg Greuther Fürth - 1. FC Union Berlin 2:2 (0:1) 11,080
0:1 M. Thiel (8., Kreilach)
1:1 Freis (50., Stiepermann)
1:2 Parensen (79., Schönheim)
2:2 Wurtz (89., Gießelmann)
Erzgebirge Aue - FSV Frankfurt 1:0 (0:0) 7,650
1:0 Benatelli (59., Alibaz)
SV Darmstadt 98 - 1. FC Heidenheim 1:1 (0:0) 14,300
1:0 Stroh-Engel (64., penalty, Sulu)
1:1 Niederlechner (77., Titsch-Rivero)
1. FC Kaiserslautern - RasenBall Leipzig 1:1 (1:1) 30,000
0:1 Poulsen (16., Forsberg)
1:1 Zoller (20., Stöger)
1 FC Ingolstadt 04 29 16 10 3 46:24 +22 58
2 1. FC Kaiserslautern 29 13 12 4 40:25 +15 51
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3 SV Darmstadt 98 (N) 29 12 14 3 38:21 +17 50
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4 Karlsruher SC 29 12 13 4 39:21 +18 49
5 RasenBallsport Leipzig (N) 29 11 11 7 34:23 +11 44
6 Eintracht Braunschweig (A) 29 13 5 11 37:32 +5 44
7 Fortuna Düsseldorf 29 10 10 9 43:43 0 40
8 SV Sandhausen 29 9 10 10 26:31 -5 37
9 1. FC Union Berlin 29 9 10 10 35:46 -11 37
10 VfL Bochum 29 7 14 8 45:45 0 35
11 1. FC Heidenheim (N) 29 9 8 12 36:37 -1 35
12 FSV Frankfurt 29 9 8 12 36:44 -8 35
13 1. FC Nürnberg (A) 29 10 5 14 33:42 -9 35
14 SpVgg Greuther Fürth 29 6 13 10 29:35 -6 31
15 1860 München 29 7 8 14 37:44 -7 29
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16 FC St. Pauli 29 7 7 15 31:47 -16 28
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17 Erzgebirge Aue 29 7 7 15 23:39 -16 28
18 VfR Aalen 29 6 11 12 26:35 -9 27
Aalen deducted two points for being wankers, err, financial shenanigans.
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