Bundesliga 2, Matchday 9 highlights: Darmstadt hammer Cologne, Hamburg breeze past Magdeburg
Lowly Darmstadt put five past Cologne in a meeting of last season's relegated Bundesliga clubs, before Hamburg swept aside promotion rivals Magdeburg...
Matchday 9 results
Darmstadt 5-1 Cologne
Goals: 1-0 Hornby (11'), 1-1 Limperle (38'), 2-1 Hornby (40'), 3-1 Lidberg (54'), 4-1 Förster (65'), 5-1 Vukotić (90'+4)
The Lilies claimed a first home win of the season with an assured performance in front of their own fans. Scotsman Fraser Hornby opened the scoring early and although Cologne hit back through Tim Lemperle before the break, Hornby replied two minutes later and Darmstadt ran away with it in the second half, leveraging their dominance of possession as Isac Lidberg, Philipp Förster and Vukotić blew the lead out to four goals.
Hertha Berlin 3-1 Eintracht Braunschweig
Goals: 0-1 Szabó (38'), 1-1 Cuisance (pen. 54'), 2-1 Maza (pen. 72'), 3-1 Niederlechner (83')
Red card: Grill (50')
A big night for Hertha fans as their side came from behind to beat Braunschweig with a gutsy performance that also benefited from their being a man up for much of the second half. Hertha dominated possession early, but it was Eintracht who took the lead when Levante Szabó stabbed home just before the break. But Cristian Fiél's men remained patient and, after Grill came out for a long ball, missed it and then rugby tackled Mickaël Cuisance on the edge of the area, got their chance. Cuisance made no mistake from the spot, and Ibrahim Maza followed suit with another penalty. Substitute Florian Niederlechner, brought on to kill off the match, did just that as he followed up earning the second penalty by slotting home the third goal.
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Hannover 1-0 Schalke
Goals: 1-0 Kunze (4’)
Hannover made it five wins from five at home this season as Fabian Kunze netted the only goal of the game in Kees van Wonderen’s debut in charge of Schalke. It came after only four minutes when Kunze turned in a free-kick at the near post. The hosts then did a very good job of keeping their opponents at arm’s length, with the Royal Blues only mustering up two shots on target all game. Jessic Ngankam thought he’d made doubly sure of the three points for Hannover when he finished off a counter-attack shortly after coming off the bench, but the goal was ruled out for offside on review. It remained enough for Stefan Leitl’s side as they maintained their perfect home record to stay hot on the heels of the promotion hopefuls. Schalke remain perilously just above the relegation zone.
Preußen Münster 1-1 Elversberg
Goals: 1-0 Mees (20'), 1-1 Fellhauer (84')
Having not made the best start to their season, Münster held on to a point against an Elversberg side that had won their last two games against Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern. The visitors played well throughout, but it was the home side who took the lead through Joshua Mees early on, who’s finish from inside the area forced Elversberg to take things up a notch. They continued to dominate the ball and create chances but had to wait until six minutes from time to equalise through Robin Fellhauer, by which point there was too little time to find a winner despite their best efforts.
Jahn Regensburg 0-3 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Goals: 0-1 Oberdorf (44'), 0-2 Kownacki (81'), 0-3 Vermeij (pen. 89')
Red cards: Wurm 83', Hein 88'
Düsseldorf consolidated their place at the top of the table as they defeated bottom-placed Regensburg away from home. The visitors were on top throughout the first half but only had Tim Oberdorf's header to show for it at the break. In contrast, Regensburg were the more threatening after the restart, but Dawid Kownacki made them pay for their wastefulness. After red cards for Leopold Wurm and Bryan Hein, Vincent Vermeij scored from the penalty spot to add extra gloss to the scoreline. This was the perfect response from Düsseldorf after their 3-0 loss to Hamburg last time out, while Regensburg have amassed just four points this term.
Kaiserslautern 3-0 Paderborn
Goals: 1-0 Ache 30', 2-0 Sirch 87', 3-0 Ritter 90'
Red card: Laurin Curda 90'+4
Kaiserslautern picked up their first home win of the season 3-0 in a match full of surprises. Paderborn made all the early running but a pressured blunder by keeper Pelle Boevink allowed Ragnar Ache to pounce and score an unlikely opener. Although the impetus in the match seesawed consistently, with Filip Bilbija notably crashing a header off the woodwork, Kaiserslautern took the match by the scruff of the neck in the final few minutes. Luca Sirch and Marlon Ritter produced some clinical finishing to clinch this third win of the season that sees the hosts climb to provisional 10th, while Paderborn slip to fourth.
Hamburg 3-1 Magdeburg
Goals: 1-0 Königsdörffer 5' (assist: Muheim), 2-0 Katterbach 42' (assist: Meffert), 3-0 Selke 45+1' (assist: Muheim), 3-1 Kaars 63' (penalty)
Red card: Schonlau 57'
Hamburg secured a comfortable victory over Magdeburg at home, taking them to third in the table and just two points behind Düsseldorf at the top of the table. They went in at half-time three goals to the good, thanks to goals from Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer, Noah Katterbach and Davie Selke. Königsdörffer set them on their way to victory just five minutes in, and the visitors never managed to control the Hamburg attack from then on. Sebastian Schonlau's red card just before the hour mark tipped the momentum in Magdeburg's failure, but Hamburg stood firm despite the concession of a penalty to secure the three points.
Greuther Fürth 0-4 Nuremberg
Goals: 0-1 Madatov 13, 0-2 Tzimas 18', 0-3 Tzimas 33', 0-4 Schleimer 88'
Nuremburg made it two wins in a row with a dominant display away to Greuther Fürth. Mahir Emreli got the visitors off to a strong start, with his wonderful curling effort putting his side into the lead in the 13th minute. A Stefanos Tzimas brace then sent them into the break with a three goal cushion, before Lukas Schleimer put the icing on the cake with only a couple of minutes left on the clock. It was a disappointing performance from Fürth, who are now winless in five.
Ulm 0-1 Karlsruhe
Goals: 0-1 Franke 90+4' (assist: Wanitzek)
Karlsruhe managed to dig out a last minute winner against Ulm to keep them on the heels of Düsseldorf, although the performance was far from pretty. The visitors lacked their usual rhythm throughout and Ulm caused further problems themselves, with a lack of cutting edge being the main obstacle to the hosts taking the lead. Just as the game looked destined to end in a draw, Marcel Franke popped up to nod home from close range after Ulm failed to clear a corner.
Watch: Top 5 goals from Matchday 9
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