Bundesliga 2, Matchday 4 highlights: Wins for Hamburg and Hertha Berlin as Schalke lose again
There were wins for Hamburg and Hertha Berlin, but Schalke dropped more points in defeat to Holstein Kiel.
Hannover 0-1 Hamburg
Goals: 0-1 Jatta (69')
Red card: Ramos (53')
Bakery Jatta's second goal of the campaign helped the 10 men of Hamburg to maintain an unbeaten start to the season and their lead atop the standings but the visitors' latest victory wasn't without its difficulties. Guilherme Ramos was ordered off for a second-half foul on Nicolo Tresoldi while the latter then went close to giving Hannover the lead with an effort that struck the woodwork. After surviving that scare, Tim Walter's men responded to net the game's only goal, with Jatta hitting the target from distance following some fine work by Robert Glatzel and visiting captain Ludovit Reis.
Hertha Berlin 5-0 Greuther Fürth
Goals: 1-0 Tabakovic (23'), 2-0 Winkler (31'), 3-0 P. Dardai (46'), 4-0 Prevljak (66'), 5-0 Tabakovic (77')
Hertha finally got off the mark in Bundesliga 2 this season thanks to a clinical display at home to Fürth. The Old Lady began 2023/24 with three successive defeats but were in no mood to make it four on Saturday as they dominated from the off against the Clover Leaves. Haris Tabakovic and Marten Winkler gave Pal Dardai's side a deserved lead at the break, with further goals from Palko Dardai, Smail Prevljak and another from Tabakovic securing three much-needed points.
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Schalke 0-2 Holstein Kiel
Goals: 0-1 Pichler (15'), 0-2 Machino (59')
Sent off: Schallenberg (39')
Schalke's disappointing start to life back in Bundesliga 2 continued on Matchday 4 as the 10-man Royal Blues suffered a home defeat by Holstein Kiel. Benedikt Pichler opened the scoring for the visitors after just 15 minutes on Friday evening, and matters went from bad to worse for Schalke before half-time when Ron Schallenberg was shown a straight red card for bringing down Steven Skrzybski as last man. Kiel wrapped up the points after the interval thanks to Shuto Machino's strike.
Elversberg 0-5 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Goals: 0-1 Klaus (11'), 0-2 de Wijs (15'), 0-3 Vermeij (42'), 0-4 Tzolis (71'), 0-5 Tzolis (79')
Düsseldorf returned to winning ways in some style on Saturday following their Matchday 3 defeat at home to Paderborn. The visitors were already 2-0 up after a quarter of an hour thanks to goals from Felix Klaus and Jordy de Wijs, with Vincent Vermeij effectively ending the game as a contest with Düsseldorf's third before half-time. A brace from Christos Tzolis in the second period added gloss to a scoreline that took Fortuna to seven points from their first four games.
Paderborn 1-2 Kaiserslautern
Goals: 0-1 Ritter (59'), 0-2 Ache (65'), 1-2 Muslija (73')
Having started the season with back-to-back defeats, Kaiserslautern earned a second straight win thanks to their victory in Paderborn. Such a result did not appear likely in the first half, in which the home side dominated throughout but were unable to convert any of their chances. The Red Devils made them pay after the break with two goals in six minutes from Marlon Ritter and Ragnar Ache, and although Florent Muslija pulled one back in the closing stages, Paderborn were unable to salvage a draw.
Nuremberg 2-1 Wehen Wiesbaden
Goals: 0-1 Prtajin (55'), 1-1 Gyamerah (68'), 2-1 Handwerker pen. (76')
Red cards: Gürleyen (11'), Lee (40'), Angha (85')
Remarkably, both sides received first half red cards in Nuremberg on Sunday. Ahmet Gürleyen was shown a straight red after just 11 minutes but the away side would soon be reduced to 10-players themselves when Hyunju Lee was handed a second yellow five minutes before the turnaround. Within 10 minutes of the restart, Wiesbaden were ahead as Ivan Prtajin broke the deadlock but the hosts managed to level through Jan Gyamerah. Nuremberg completed the turnaround from the penalty spot with less than quarter of an hour to play - Tim Handwerker squeezing past Florian Stritzel from 12-yards. An all-action affair still had time to see Martin Angha receive the third red card of the game late on.
Hansa Rostock 2-1 Osnabrück
Goals: 1-0 Perea (26'), 1-1 Gnaase (45'), 2-1 Pröger (67')
Hansa continued their fine early season form with a third victory to keep them in contention near the top of the table. Juan Jose Perea - on loan at the club from VfB Stuttgart - netted his third goal of the campaign to open the scoring, only for Dave Gnaase to equalise in the third minute of stoppage time before the break. Kai Pröger eventually hit the winner midway through the second half, scoring on the rebound after his penalty had been saved by Lennart Grill.
Having started the season brightly, Magdeburg had the chance to pull level with leaders HSV on Sunday and could have gone above them with a big victory in Hamburg. They met, however, a stubborn Pauli outfit who proved tricky to break down and earned a third successive 0-0 draw. It should have been so much better for Pauli but they missed a host of chances, with the home team mustering a whopping 26 shots on goal and 12 on target, but none of which found the back of the net. Both teams maintain their unbeaten records, with Hamburg the only other side yet to taste defeat so far this term.
Karlsruhe 2-0 Eintracht Braunschweig
Goals: 1-0 Jensen (25'), 2-0 Schleusener (67')
Red card: Nikolaou (37')
Looking for their second league win of the campaign, Karlsruhe were swept in front after 25 minutes courtesy of Leon Jensen's first league goal of the season. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors with the sending off of Jannis Nikolaou shortly before the break but there given a reprive when Robin Bormuth's goal three minutes later was ruled out. There was more luck after the break for Braunschweig when VAR overturned a penalty ruling but the dam always looked like breaching and Karlsruhe finally had their two-goal buffer - and all three points - when Fabian Schleusener fired home on the break.
Watch: The top 5 goals from Matchday 4
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