Fortuna Düsseldorf are keeping an eye on the top three in the race for promotion in the 2nd Bundesliga.

Coach Daniel Thioune’s team won the entertaining chasing duel at Holstein Kiel 2-1 (1-0) on matchday 14 and climbed to fifth place for the time being with 23 points.

Meanwhile, promoted 1. FC Kaiserslautern remains in a safe mid-table position, while 1. FC Nürnberg remains close to the relegation zone, even under its new coach Markus Weinzierl. In the duel between the founding members of the Bundesliga, there was a lot of fight and emotion, but no goals.

Hansa Rostock, meanwhile, clinched an important three points thanks to a brace from Kai Pröger (7/26). After four league games without a win, the North Germans won 3-0 (2-0) at Jahn Regensburg and moved to within a point of the Upper Palatinate side, for whom Jan Elvedi (63rd) scored an own goal.

The former Essen man now has six goals for the season and scored his second brace of the current campaign. Between 2017 and 2019, the native of Wilhelmshaven was a key player for RWE for one and a half years.

In Kiel, Shinta Appelkamp (42nd) and Dawid Kownacki (82nd, penalty after video evidence) scored for Fortuna, who celebrated their second away treble in a row. Captain Marcel Sobottka was shown a yellow card for repeated foul play in the final phase (90.+3). Top scorer Steven Skrzybski (70th) equalised in the meantime for Kiel (20), who had previously been unbeaten for four games and are currently at the bottom of the table.

The Red Devils, who were closer to a win, can live better with the nil number at the Betzenberg: They are in seventh place for the time being with 20 points, the club is only two points away from the relegation place with five points less. Because not all of the 46,895 spectators were in their seats at the Fritz Walter Stadium in time, the traditional duel was kicked off with a ten-minute delay.