Leaders Darmstadt stumble in the fight for promotion. Relegation candidate Bielefeld suffered a defeat. St. Pauli continues to win, Magdeburg scores against Paderborn.
Darmstadt 98 is in a results crisis and is in danger of losing the lead in the 2nd Bundesliga in the final spurt of the season. Despite Mathias Honsak’s opening goal (54th minute), the Lilien were surprisingly beaten 3-1 (0-0) by relegation candidates Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday.
In the debut of the new Arminia coach Uwe Koschinat, Manuel Prietl (72nd), Benjamin Kanuric (90th +1) and Fabian Klos (90th +4) turned the game around late on. It was Darmstadt’s second defeat in a row and the third winless game in a row.
Chasing Hamburger SV is only one point behind before Sunday’s away game at Karlsruher SC (1.30 pm). Third-placed 1. FC Heidenheim, three points behind and with a better goal difference, can climb past Darmstadt into first place with an away win at Fortuna Düsseldorf on Saturday evening (8.30 pm).
FC St. Pauli, on the other hand, continued their impressive winning streak on Saturday, celebrating their seventh successive victory in a 2-1 (1-1) win over SpVgg Greuther Fürth, equalling an almost 50-year-old club record.
However, the Fürth side also had to spend the entire second half shorthanded after Gideon Jung (45th) was shown the red card for an emergency foul. In the third match on Saturday, 1. FC Magdeburg and SC Paderborn drew 0:0.
SV Sandhausen had already earned an important point in the relegation battle on Friday evening, drawing 2-2 (1-1) at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Lautern is now winless for five games and has lost touch with the promotion places. But in the table, the promoted team is still in a good position with 39 points.
1. FC Nürnberg gained some breathing space in the relegation battle and celebrated its second victory under coach Dieter Hecking with a 2-0 (0-0) win over fellow rivals Eintracht Braunschweig.
No winner between Düsseldorf and Heidenheim
In Saturday night’s match, goal-scorer Tim Kleindienst (20th) put FCH in front, Emmanuel Iyoha (27th) equalised for Düsseldorf, who remain eight points behind the southern Germans. Heidenheim’s Denis Thomalla was sent off with a red card after an assault (77th).
