2. Bundesliga
Substitute Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer scored in injury time as Hamburg came from behind to beat Hannover and retain top spot in Bundesliga 2.
Hannover 1-2 Hamburg
Goals: 1-0 Muroya (4'), 1-1 Börner (o.g. 15'), 1-2 Königsdörffer (90'+2)
Unbeaten in six matches and against the backdrop of a capacity 42,200 crowd at the HDI-Arena, Hannover made a dream start. Sei Muroya pounced as Miro Muheim slipped when receiving a pass from Daniel Heuer Fernandes, before bursting into the box and finishing low past the back-tracking Hamburg No.1. A mistake in the Hannover rearguard almost resulted in an equaliser, but Ron-Robert Zieler was equal to Sonny Kittel's strike. HSV were level with 15 minutes on the clock, though, as Julian Börner diverted a Moritz Heyer cross into this own net. After Muroya and Jonas Meffert drew routine saves from the respective goalkeepers, Robert Glatzel had Zieler at full stretch with a low shot from inside the area that the Hannover custodian did really well to claw to safety.
Laszlo Benes headed a Bakery Jatta cross over the crossbar with the first opening of note of the second half. Kittel went closer still, but his shot on the run found the knees of Zieler at his near post. Both coaches rang the changes in a nervy finale, in which Hamburg asked more of the questions. Substitute Anssi Suhonen sent in an inviting cross as the visitors upped the ante, but there were no takers. Hannover backs to the wall, Zieler then had to be on his toes to repel Königsdörffer's shot that was creeping in at the near post. There was nothing he could do to stop the newly capped Ghana international's next effort, though. Königsdörffer charged through on the counter, before finishing with aplomb to extend HSV's winning run to five.
Teams
Hannover: Zieler (c) - Neumann, Börner, Kranjnc - Muroya, Köhn, Leopold, Kunze (Besuschkow 88'), Tresoldi (Weydandt 70') - Nielsen, Teuchert (Kerk 53')
Unused subs: Weinkauf, Arrey-Mbi, Dehm, Foti, Schaub, Stolze
Out: Ernst (Achilles), Walbrecht (ankle)
Coach: Stefan Leitl
Hamburg: Heuer Fernandes – Heyer, Vuskovic, Schonlau (c), Muheim – Meffert, Reis, Benes (Suhonen 76') – Jatta (David 90'+5), Glatzel, Kittel (Königsdörffer 69')
Unused subs: Raab, Leibold, Mikelbrencis, Amaechi, Bilbija, Krahn
Out: Dompe (ankle), Heil (foot), Megeed (metatarsal)
Coach: Tim Walter
Matchday 10 round-up
Paderborn 1-2 Darmstadt
Goals: 1-0 Leipertz 4' (assist: Rohr), 1-1 Manu 10' (assist: Kempe), 1-2 Müller 24' (assist: Kempe)
Darmstadt extended their unbeaten run to nine games and won their second in succession to keep the pressure on Bundesliga 2 leaders Hamburg with this come-from-behind win away at fellow promotion chasers Paderborn. An electric start to proceedings saw Robert Leipertz convert Maximilian Rohr's centre to edge the hosts in front. It should have gotten even better for the home side moments later when they were awarded a penalty, however, Marvin Pieringer's weak shot from the spot was saved by the grateful Marcel Schuhen. Amazingly, Darmstadt then levelled the contest with barely ten minutes on the clock, Braydon Manu heading home following some good work by Tobias Kempe. Indeed, Kempe was again involved as the visitors went in front, the 33-year-old's set piece met by Jannik Müller who netted what would turn out to be the game-winning goal that inflicted a first home reverse on Paderborn and strengthened Darmstadt in second place.
Greuther Fürth 1-1 Sandhausen
Goals: 0-1 Esswein 12' (assist: Kinsombi), 1-1 Green 48' (assist: Asta)
Red card: Trybull 90'+3
Just one point separates these two sides in the lower reaches of the table, with last season's relegated hosts still only on one win for the campaign. The Clover Leaves fell behind in the 12th minute when David Kinsombi pounced on an error before racing forward and teeing up Alexander Esswein to finish. Fürth's early pressure after the restart paid off when Julian Green connected with Simon Asta's cross to level things up. Chances were few and far between thereafter, with the only incident of note coming when Tom Trybull was shown a second yellow card in injury time to leave Sandhausen with ten men on the final whistle.
Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-1 Arminia Bielefeld
Goals: 1-0 Appelkamp 21' (assist: Karbownik), 1-1 Hack (pen.) 34', 2-1 Tanaka 47' (assist: Appelkamp), 3-1 Appelkamp 66' (assist: Kownacki), 4-1 Oberdorf 76' (assist: Hendrix)
Fortuna enjoyed a precious triumph that lifted them to fourth spot in the overnight standings as stuttering Arminia suffered a sixth reverse of the season. The hosts had Shinta Appelkamp in fine form, the midfielder netting the fine first of a double in the 21st minute with the outside of his boot. A Christoph Klarer foul on Marc Rzatkowski in the penalty area led to Robin Hack levelling from the spot for the away side. Yet the second half was all about Fortuna, and Appelkamp, who provided Ao Tanaka with the ammunition to fire his side ahead. Appelkamp then slammed home his second following Dawid Kownacki's back heel while Tim Oberdorf headed home Jorrit Hendrix's corner to end a one-sided affair.
Watch: Highlights of Düsseldorf's win
Holstein Kiel 1-1 Hansa Rostock
Goals: 1-0 Reese (pen.) 28', 1-1 Hinterseer 88' (assist: Lee)
Both of these sides remain just out of touching distance of the top three following this entertaining draw, although Rostock emerged the happier of the sides after scoring a late equaliser. Nico Neidhart's handball inside his own area with the game approaching the half-hour mark offered the hosts the perfect opportunity to take the lead. Midfielder Fabian Reese made no mistake from the spot and left Rostock playing catch up. Kiel would miss a couple of chances to make the game safe in the second half, and they would be made pay late on with Austrian striker Lukas Hinterseer scoring a valuable equaliser for Jens Härtel's side.
St. Pauli 0-0 Heidenheim
Draw specialists Heidenheim registered a third consecutive stalemate after being held by St. Pauli on Saturday. The visitors enjoyed the better start, albeit without ever seriously threatening the home side's goal, with Pauli growing in confidence as the half wore on. Heidenheim midfielder Adrian Beck had the opportunity to win it for his side after the break, only to hit the crossbar with his shot. The result leaves Heidenheim in fifth in the table on 17 points, with Pauli down in 11th, six points further behind.
Karlsruhe 3-0 Nuremberg
Goals: 1-0 Schleusener (45+1'), 2-0 Heise (78'), 3-0 Wanitzek (82')
The hosts took all three points as Karlsruhe brushed aside Nuremberg with a confident performance at the BBBank Wildpark on Sunday. Karlsruhe first took the lead on the stroke of half time as Fabian Schleusener met Marvin Wanitzek’s cross from the right and steered a header into the far corner. They never looked back and went on to strike twice in quick succession after the break to seal all three points as first Philip Heise made it 2-0 and then Marvin Wanitzek applied the gloss four minutes later.
Magdeburg 1-0 Jahn Regensburg
Goals: 1-0 Schuler (68‘)
Magdeburg began the weekend just a point above the drop zone, but finished Matchday on the edge of the top half thanks to a narrow victory over Regensburg. Luca Schuler was the man who proved to be the match-winner, with his second half strike that came about in extraordinary fashion. Dominik Reimann’s long ball downfield sailed over the head of Schuler and looked to be heading safely into the hands of Dejan Stovanovic at the other end but the away goalkeeper got his judgement wrong and saw the ball bounce over his head, allowing Schuler to race behind and tap in from a yard out. It proved a costly mistake from Stovanovic as Magdeburg held on for a crucial victory.
Kaiserslautern 1-1 Eintracht Braunschweig
Goals: 0-1 Lauberbach (52’), 1-1 Tomiak (55')
After a quiet first half, the game burst into life after the break with the two teams trading strikes within three minutes of each other. First, Lion Lauberbach put the visitors in front on 52 minutes with his first league goal of the campaign but the Eintracht lead didn’t last long. Boris Tomiak delivered the equaliser for the home team soon after, heading home Philipp Klement’s corner through a crowd of players to make it 1-1. There would be no winner to separate the two teams as the pair had to settle for a point apiece.