Hamburg see off Hansa Rostock

Hansa Rostock 0-2 Hamburg
Goals: 0-1 Reis 40', 0-2 Nemeth 90'+4
Red card: Roßbach 81'

With division leaders Darmstadt picking up maximum points with a 4-0 win at Sandhausen on Friday, HSV – in second – had a five-point gap to bridge at the top of the standings. The visitors had the best of the first-half chances, with Jean-Luc Dompe  testing Markus Kolke before Moritz Heyer drove narrowly off target. Hamburg midfielder Ludovit Reis has been an integral part of The Red Shorts’ campaign to date and he was on hand to put Tim Walter’s side ahead shortly before the break. With Hansa giving up possession several times in the same passage of play, Reis gleefully slid home his fifth goal of the season before making his way over to celebrate in front of the visiting faithful.

Chasing a 13th win of the season - more than any other team in the second-tier has managed – Hamburg kept up the pressure immediately after the restart. A bizarre sequence of play almost lead to a HSV second. Rick van Drongelen nearly put through his own net before Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer then missed with a follow up. Keeping the ball in play, Robert Glatzel then fed Dompe whose effort was pushed onto the crossbar by the busy Kolke. Rostock were hoping  to put daylight between themselves and the relegation zone and with that in mind, upped their game. The hosts had two goals ruled out as they pressed for an equaliser but when Damian Roßbach was ordered off for a second bookable offence, the writing looked on the wall for Patrick Glöckner’s team. Glatzel then spurned a glorious chance to wrap it up for HSV but the miss would matter little when Andras Nemeth completed a Rothosen counter-attack at the death.

• HSV have now won seven of their last eight competitive matches against Rostock.
• Hansa have lost four of their last five home games.
• Hamburg are nine points better off this season than they were at the same stage last term.
• Reis has scored in three consecutive Bundesliga 2 games for the first time in his career.
• The HSV No. 14 has also matched his personal best for goals scored in a single campaign (achieved last season) by scoring five goals this term.
• Recent HSV arrival Andras Nemeth scored his first Bundesliga 2 goal with his very first shot in the division.

Rostock: Kolke (c) - Ananou, van Drongelen, Roßbach - Pröger, Neidhart (Lee 83'), Fröde (Dressel 68'), Schumacher, Ingelsson (Malone 83'), Duljevic (Fröling 62') - Verhoek
Unused subs: Körber, Lucoqui, Rhein, Schröter, Munsy
Out: Scherff (knee)
Coach: Patrick Glöckner

Hamburg: Heuer Fernandes - Heyer, David, Schonlau (c), Muheim - Meffert, Königsdörffer (Benes 74'), Reis - Jatta (Nemeth 85'), Glatzel, Dompe (Katterbach 90'+1)
Unused subs: Raab, Mikelbrencis, Bilbija, Kittel, Montero, Kisilowski
Out: Amaechi (ankle), Heil (calf), Krahn (knee), Mikel (ribs), Vuskovic (suspended)
Coach: Tim Walter

Kaiserslautern 2-1 Holstein Kiel
Goals: 1-0 Hanslik (6'), 1-1 Porath (30'), 2-1 Boyd (71')

Kaiserslautern kept up their promotion push with a 2-1 victory at home against Kiel on Saturday afternoon. Die roten Teufel took the lead after just six minutes, when Daniel Hanslik headed Hendrick Zuck's cross home before Kiel responded, going close through Finn Porath and Kwasi Wriedt, who struck the post. Porath finally beat Andreas Luthe on the hour mark, again with a header, and that equaliser gave the visitors extra impetus as they went in search of a victory. However, Terrence Boyd was on hand to clinch the three points for the hosts midway through the second half, getting on the end of another Zuck cross. Kaiserslautern are now unbeaten in their last seven Bundesliga 2 matches and trail second-placed Hamburg by just two points.

Paderborn 4-1 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Goals: 1-0 Pieringer (37'), 1-1 Hennings (pen. 59'), 2-1 Heuer (62'), 3-1 Muslija (pen. 68'), 4-1 Leipertz (81')

Paderborn bounced back from their elimination from the DFB Cup at the hands of VfB Stuttgart with a convincing win over Fortuna Düsseldorf which put some daylight between the two promotion chasers. Marvin Pieringer crowned a good spell of Paderborn pressure to put the East Westphalians in front before the break, turning in Florent Muslija’s cross. Fortuna were given a lifeline just shy of the hour mark when a foul in the area by Julian Justvan saw a penalty awarded. Rouwen Hennings took the opportunity to bring the guests level. Their joy was short lived, however, as Jannis Heuer restored Paderborn’s advantage within a matter of minutes, turning in the rebound after Pieringer’s shot was turned onto the crossbar. Muslija added a third with the second penalty of the game just five minutes later before Robert Leipertz sealed the deal 10 minutes from time, taking Paderborn to fifth and three points ahead of their guests.

Sandhausen 0-4 Darmstadt
Goals: 0-1 Honsak (6’), 0-2 Honsak (25'), 0-3 Vilhelmsson (55’), 0-4 Karic (89’)

Mathias Honsak struck twice as Darmstadt cemented their place at the top of Bundesliga 2 with a convincing 4-0 win at Sandhausen. Honsak opened the scoring after just five minutes, heading in Fabian Schnellhardt’s corner at the near post. Sandhausen almost levelled immediately, but after Alexander Esswein’s shot only found the side-netting, there was only going to be one winner. Honsak doubled Darmstadt’s lead midway through the first half, sliding in to meet Philipp Tietz’s cross, and Oscar Vilhelmsson added a third early in the second half. Emir Karic put the cherry on top, scoring at the second time of asking after Patrick Drewes saved his initial effort.

Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 Heidenheim
Goals: 1-0 Wintzheimer (72'), 2-0 Lauberbach (90')

Heidenheim tasted defeat for the first time in eight league games as they were beaten 2-0 by Braunschweig away from home. The first 70 minutes of the encounter were evenly matched, with Jan-Hendrik Marx hitting the post for the hosts and the visitors' Jan Schöppner forcing Jasmin Fejzic into a diving save before first blood was drawn. Marx aimed a long ball forward, but Manuel Wintzheimer did most of the work, holding off a defender before firing through the legs of Kevin Müller to give his side the lead. Wintzheimer turned provider in the final minute of normal time, as Lion Lauberbach got on the end of his chipped pass to volley home from close range. Despite the result, Heidenheim remain third, while Braunschweig move up to 10th.

Regensburg 1-3 Arminia Bielefeld
Goals: 1-0 Elvedi (2'), 1-1 Vasiliadis (14'), 1-2 Klos (85’), 1-3 Klos (90’)

Fabian Klos struck twice as Arminia Bielefeld came from behind to pick up their first win of 2023, trading places with Jahn Regensburg and sending the Bavarians into the bottom three with a 3-1 away win. Things looked to be moving in the right direction for the hosts when Jan Elvedi gave them an early lead at the Jahnstadion, heading in from Sarpreet Singh’s corner. However, Sebastian Vasiliadis restored parity after less than a quarter of an hour and after Janni Serra missed two gilt-edged chances to put Bielefeld in front before the break, the East Westphalians landed two late crushing blows. Elvedi had a second goal of the game ruled out for offside, after VAR review, before Klos struck twice within five minutes to take Bielefeld above their hosts, who have not won in six games.