Sebastian Polter completed a remarkable Schalke comeback at home to Magdeburg. - © IMAGO/Treese

2. Bundesliga

Bundesliga 2, Matchday 6: Schalke down Magdeburg, Düsseldorf dispatch Rostock to go top

17.09.2023

Schalke staged a stunning comeback to defeat Magdeburg 4-3, while Fortuna Düsseldorf moved to the top of the Bundesliga 2 table with a 3-1 win away at Hansa Rostock.

Matchday 6 results

Paderborn 2-1 Wehen Wiesbaden
Goals: 0-1 Froese (23’), 1-1 Klaas (51’), 2-1 Nadj (60’)

Paderborn played out their fourth straight 2-1 result, this time coming out on top following two defeats, after coming from behind to beat promoted Wiesbaden. Klanz Froese put the visitors in front midway through the first half before the hosts hit back after the break. Sebastian Klaas fired into the bottom left corner and then teed up Niclas Nadj on the hour mark to put Lukas Kwasniok’s side ahead for the first time and claim their second victory of the season.

Nuremberg 1-1 Greuther Fürth
Goals: 0-1 Michalski (8’), 1-1 Uzun (pen. 45’+1)

Neighbours Nuremberg and Fürth played out a 1-1 draw on the Friday before the start of Oktoberfest in Bavaria. Damian Michalski put the visitors ahead inside eight minutes of the 271st Franconia derby, heading in Julian Green’s corner. Greuther thought they’d doubled their advantage when Simon Asta put the ball away, but Niko Gießelmann was flagged offside. Nuremberg were then awarded a penalty on review on the stroke of half-time, which 17-year-old Can Yilmaz Uzun put away for his seventh goal in seven senior appearances and earn Der Club a share of the derby spoils.

Karlsruhe 1-1 Kaiserslautern
Goals: 0-1 Ache (5'), 1-1 Wanitzek (pen. 45'+5)

Karlsruhe cancelled out Kaiserslautern as the two south-west rivals played out a 1-1 draw at the BBBank Wildpark. It took the visitors just five minutes to break the deadlock as Ragnar Ache ran onto Jean Zimmer's pass and buried into the corner for his fifth goal of the campaign, but, in the fifth minute of first-half injury time, Marvin Wanitzek dispatched a penalty after Kevin Kraus fouled Fabian Schleusener. Neither side were able to find a winner after the interval, meaning they both remain just behind the division's leading pack.

Hansa Rostock 1-3 Fortuna Düsseldorf
Goals: 0-1 Tzolis (17'), 0-2 Hoffmann (35'), 1-2 van der Werff (45'), 1-3 Niemiec (88')

Düsseldorf moved to the top of the Bundesliga table as they won 3-1 away at Hansa Rostock. The visitors dominated early on and took the lead in the 17th minute, when Christos Tzolis buried into the corner for his fouth goal in his last three matches, and they were two to the good shortly after the hour mark as Andre Hoffmann netted from a set-piece. Jasper van der Werff, though, halved the arrears on the stroke of half-time with his knee from close range to set up an interesting second period. Both sides had opportunities following the restart, but the only other goal came shortly before full-time via Jona Niemiec, who kept his cool to finish off a quick counterattack. The result saw Fortuna move to the top of the table ahead of Magdeburg's clash with Schalke.

Elversberg 2-1 Hamburg
Goals: 1-0 Rochelt (9'), 2-0 Schnellbacher (60'), 2-1 Heyer (89')

Hamburg suffered their first defeat of the campaign as they lost 2-1 away from home against newly-promoted Elversberg. It took the hosts less than 10 minutes to get off the mark as Jannik Rochelt took advantage of some miscommunication in the HSV defence to fire beyond Daniel Heuer from outside the area and, although the visitors had a goal ruled out for a foul in the build-up shortly after, they offered little in the way of attacking threat. In fact, Elversberg should have already doubled their advantage before they eventually did on the hour mark, with Luca Schnellbacher directing Rochelt's cross into the net from five yards. Moritz Heyer did pull one back as full-time approached, but it was not enough to prevent Horst Steffen's outfit from picking up their maiden home win at this level.

Schalke 4-3 Magdeburg
Goals: 0-1 Gnaka (17'), 0-2 Gnaka (27'), 1-2 Polter (40'), 2-2 Murkin (62'), 2-3 Krempicki (67'), 3-3 Ouwejan (69'), 4-3 Polter (pen. 79')
Red cards: Heber (77')

Magdeburg missed the opportunity to move into top spot, throwing away a two-goal lead on their way to a 4-3 defeat at Schalke. In the 16th minute, the away side moved in front, as Silas Gnaka punished a Tobias Mohr mistake, and he netted a second shortly before the half-hour mark, burying an effort from the edge of the area. Schalke, though, were not going to go down without a fight and halved the deficit through Sebastian Polter as half-time approached. Derry John Murkin's left-footed strike levelled proceedings and, although Connor Krempicki restored his side's advantage with his first touch after coming on from the bench, the lead lasted less than two minutes before Thomas Ouwejan directed a free-kick beyond Magdeburg goalkeeper Dominik Reimann. The turnaround was complete when Polter scored from 12 yards with 11 minutes remaining after being brought down by Daniel Heber as he bore down on goal, a decision which earned the defender his marching orders in the process.

Hertha Berlin 3-0 Eintracht Braunschweig
Goals: 1-0 Tabakovic (38'), 2-0 Tabakovic (pen. 45'+2), 3-0 Tabakovic (71')

Haris Tabakovic's hat-trick secured Hertha Berlin's second win of the Bundesliga 2 campaign as they defeated Eintracht Braunschweig 3-0. Tabakovic thought he had broken the deadlock just after the half-hour mark but, although that effort was ruled out for offside, the 29-year-old had his opener shortly after, driving home from close range after his first attempt was thwarted. Sebastian Griesbeck's handball in the second minute of first-half injury time gave the Swiss the opportunity to net his brace from the spot, and he made no mistake. The scoring was compete midway through the second half, as the striker found the bottom corner after a neat one-two with Bilal Hussein.

St. Pauli 5-1 Holstein Kiel
Goals: 1-0 Metcalfe (4'), 2-0 Smith (7'), 3-0 Afolayan (38'), 3-1 Holtby (50'), 4-1 Ritzka (69'), 5-1 Hartel (90'+3)

St. Pauli remain unbeaten this campaign as the hammered Holstein Kiel 5-1 at the Millerntor Stadium. The hosts were two to the good inside the first seven minutes - their first goals on home turf of the season - as Connor Metcalfe and Eric Smith struck early. The Pauli supporters had to wait a while longer for the next goal, but it eventually came courtesy of Oladapo Afolayan's back-post effort in the 38th minute. Lewis Holtby pulled one back shortly after the restart, but Lars Ritzka restored the three-goal advantage midway through the half before Marcel Hartel added the cherry on top of the cake in injury time.

Hannover 7-0 Osnabrück
Goals: 1-0 Nielsen (20'), 2-0 Nielsen (45'+1), 3-0 Schaub (58'), 4-0 Teuchert (63'), 5-0 Teuchert (pen. 70'), 6-0 Köhn (77'), 7-0 Voglsammer (80')
Red cards: Weimann (37')

Hannover moved up to fourth in the table with an emphatic 7-0 drubbing of bottom side Osnabrück. It didn't take long for Die Roten to impose their superiority, taking the lead in the 20th minute through Nielsen. Osnabrück's task became an almost impossible challenge in the 37th minute when Niklas Weimann was sent off for a studs up tackle on the goalscorer, who went on to double his tally for the day in injury time. Louis Schaub hit the post before the break, but eventually found the back of the net with just over 30 minutes left on the clock, before Cedric Teuchert netted twice in quick succession, the second of which came from the penalty spot. Derrick Köhn and Andreas Voglsammer added extra gloss to the scoreline as the match approached its climax, and only a good showing from Osnabrück goalkeeper Lennart Grill kept the hosts' haul at seven.