Filip Stojilkovic's brace helped take Darmstadt back to the top of Bundesliga 2 with victory over Kaiserslautern, who are now 10 points outside the promotion places.

Darmstadt 2-0 Kaiserslautern
Goals: 1-0 Stojilkovic 36' (assist: Holland), 2-0 Stojilkovic 43' (assist: Tietz)

Darmstadt began the day in second place following Heidenheim's 5-2 win over Karlsruhe, and with a point to prove following successive defeats to their aforementioned promotion rivals and lowly Armina Bielefeld. Braydon Manu had the ball in the net with 15 minutes gone, but the goal was ruled out for a high boot in the build-up. Kaiserslautern gave as good as they got as Marlon Ritter sent a header wide, before the home side forged ahead through Stojilkovic's deflected header from a corner. Lady Luck was clearly with the Lilies as Marcel Schuhen got behind Philipp Klement's attempt to redirect Nicolai Rapp's fierce shot past the goalkeeper. They doubled their lead moments later, with Stojilkovic firing in at the second attempt after initially being foiled by Andreas Luthe.

Darmstadt went in search of a third goal after the restart as Phillip Tietz drilled narrowly wide on the turn. Manu tested the reflexes of Luthe with a well-struck shot from 20 yards, before Marvin Mehlem blazed over following a mistake in the Kaiserslautern back line. Manu tried to make it a chance of third time lucky, but a pair of deflections lifted his goal-bound effort over the crossbar. From the ensuing corner, Luthe did really well to claw away Clemens Riedel's powerful header. Substitute Lex-Tyger Lobinger found the side netting with a shot from a tight angle at the end of a rare Kaiserslautern attack, but Darmstadt's lead never came under any real threat. Indeed, but for Luthe's outstretched boot and the woodwork getting in the way of respective efforts from substitutes Aaron Seydel and Fabio Torsiello, the winning margin would have been even greater.

Match stats

• Stojilkovic scored his second and third Bundesliga 2 goals.
• Darmstadt are the only Bundesliga 2 team so far this season without a single player on double figures for goals (Tietz has eight).
• Kaiserslautern are winless in three matches for the first time since mid-October.
• The Lilies recorded just their second win in 10 meetings with the Red Devils (L3, D5).
• Boyd has gone three four games without scoring for the first time this season.
• Whenever Darmstadt and Kaiserslautern have competed in the same league, one has been promoted at the end of the season (Darmstadt to Bundesliga 2 in 2014/15, and the Bundesliga in 1978/79 and 1981/82; Kaiserslautern to the second tier in 2017/18).

Teams

Darmstadt: Schuhen – Riedel, Zimmermann, Müller – Bader (Ronstadt 69'), Manu (Bennetts 69'), Holland (c), Karic (Torsiello 86') – Mehlem (Gjasula 69') – Stojilkovic (Seydel 80'), Tietz
Unused subs: Brunst, Isherwood, Schnellhardt, Warming
Out: Kempe (knee), Pfeiffer (muscular), Vilhelmsson (groin)
Coach: Torsten Lieberknecht

Kaiserslautern: Luthe – Zimmer (c), Kraus, Tomiak, Zuck (Durm 62') – Ritter, Rapp – Opoku, Klement (Hanslik 85'), Redondo (Zolinksi 20') – Boyd (de Preville 46' (Lobinger 62'))
Unused subs: Spahic, Schad, Bormuth, Niehues
Out: Bünning (ankle)
Coach: Dirk Schuster

Matchday 25 round-up

Arminia Bielefeld 2-2 Nuremberg
Goals: 1-0 Okugawa (8'), 2-0 Klos (23'), 2-1 Duah (57'), 2-2 Shuranov (90'+8)

Bielefeld threw away a two-goal lead as Nuremberg snatched a point deep into injury-time at the Schüco Arena. The hosts were in front after just eight minutes through Masaya Okugawa and looked to be coasting when Fabian Klos doubled their advantage before half-time. But Nuremberg came out fighting after the interval, halving their deficit almost an hour in thanks to Kwadwo Duah. And they salvaged a draw eight minutes into injury-time, as Erik Shuranov picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season.

Heidenheim 5-2 Karlsruhe
Goals: 0-1 Jensen (14'), 0-2 Kaufmann (23'), 1-2 Kleindienst (38'), 2-2 Kleindienst (45'+1), 3-2 Kleindienst (49'), 4-2 Pick (62'), 5-2 Sessa (88')

Heidenheim end the matchday in second after their come-from-behind win at home to Karlsruhe, crafted by league top-scorer Tim Kleindienst's second hat-trick of the campaign. It looked as though Karlsruhe would leave with all three points as strikes from Leon Jensen and Mikkel Kaufmann put the visitors 2-0 up midway through the first-half. Enter Kleindienst, who quickly pulled the hosts level at the break and then had Heidenheim in front four minutes after the break with his 19th league goal of the campaign. An emphatic victory was eventually wrapped up with Florian Pick and Kevin Sessa beauties.

Watch: Heidenheim 5-2 Karlsruhe - highlights

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Greuther Fürth 3-0 Magdeburg
Goals: 1-0 Green (64'), 2-0 Heber o.g. (69'), 3-0 Petkov (74')

Magdeburg travelled to Fürth in good form, but came unstuck as the hosts wrapped up victory with three second half goals. Julian Green, on as a 58th-minute substitute, provided the opener just six minutes after appearing from the bench. It was the USA international's third goal of the season and first since Matchday 10, one that spurred the Cloverleaves on to victory. Daniel Heber's own goal made it 2-0 for the home team before Lukas Petkov put the bow on victory with quarter of an hour remaining.

Hamburg 0-0 Holstein Kiel

HSV started the weekend a point back from top spot but end Matchday 25 in third-place and with a three-point jump to Darmstadt after firing a blank at home to Kiel. It was not for want of trying, though, with Robert Glatzel denied twice by visiting goalkeeper Robin Himmelmann in the first half. Himmelmann then produced another fine save to deny Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer in the second period as the two teams ultimately settled for a point apiece.

Jahn Regensburg 1-0 Paderborn
Goals: 1-0 Osei Owusu (49')

Regensburg claimed back-to-back wins for just the third time this season, as Prince Osei Owusu fired them past Paderborn on Saturday. Osei Owusu was the man fouled in the penalty box before dusting himself down and converting from 12-yards for his fourth Bundesliga 2 goal of the campaign and second in as many matches. The result stretches Paderborn's winless run to four matches (D2, L2) and there is now nine points between them and HSV in the playoff place. Regensburg, meanwhile, climbed out of the relegation zone and their recent form is giving themselves a decent chance of survival.

Sandhausen 0-5 St. Pauli
Goals: 0-1 Saliakas (19'), 0-2 Daschner (24'), 0-3 Afolayan (25'), 0-4 Irvine (45'+3), 0-5 Irvine (88')
Red card: Esswein (45'+1)

Chasing an eighth successive league win, Pauli went to bottom side Sandhausen looking to keep the fires burning in their outside run at promotion. And they rapidly motored into the lead as Manolis Saliakas' deflected effort gave the visitors the early advantage. Lukas Daschner made it 2-0 within five minutes of the opener, scoring his seventh of the season. It took just one minute for Pauli to go 3-0 up, with Oladapo Afolayan all-but wrapping up the points within the first half hour and things going from bad to worse for the hosts when Alexander Esswein was sent off and the misery was further piled on when Jackson Irvine made it 4-0 on the stroke of half time and registered a fifth late on.

Watch: Pauli make it eight in a row with resounding win

Hansa Rostock 2-5 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Goals: 0-1 Kownacki (12'), 0-2 Hennings (20'), 0-3 Zimmermann (41'), 0-4 Zimmermann (48'), 1-4 Pröger (56'), 2-4 Schumacher (74'), 2-5 Klarer (82')

Fortuna knew that victory at Rostock would see them close the gap to the top-three to just seven points and the visitors soon had their noses in front. Dawid Kownacki was the man with the opener after just 12 minutes, tapping home after Michal Karbownik's shot was rebounded into the Poland striker's path. It was Kownacki's fifth goal in his last six outings, taking his tally to 11 in the league so far this term. Rouwen Hennings soon added a second and Matthias Zimmermann made it 3-0 before the break. Zimmerman grabbed his second just after half time before Kai Pröger and Kevin Schumacher registered for the hosts and Christoph Klarer hit a fifth to put the icing on the Düsseldorf cake.

Eintracht Braunschweig 1-0 Hannover
Goals: 1-0 Nikolaou (90'+1)

Having lost four of their last five matches and seven of their previous 10, Eintracht stopped the rot thanks to a fourth clean sheet of the season and first win since Matchday 19. Jannis Nikolaou was the hero for the home team, scoring a dramatic 91st-minute winner that pulls Eintracht into the the relegation playoff place of 15th and just goal difference separating them from the bottom three and safety. Meanwhile, Hannover's own winless run now stretches to nine games (D5, L4). They now sit just outside the top-half and are only six points better off than Braunschweig.

About the clubs

1. FC Kaiserslautern

Fritz-Walter-Stadion

SV Darmstadt 98

Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor