2nd league
Kiel overtakes HSV – Hertha storms into eighth place
Holstein Kiel celebrated a home win against FC Schalke 04. Photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
Of the four top teams in the 2nd league, only Holstein Kiel can win. Schalke is getting deeper and deeper into the relegation battle.
With a goal from former Schalke player Steven Skrzybski (55th minute), the autumn champions won 1-0 (0-0) against FC Schalke 04 and pushed Hamburger SV back out of second place in the table. The Kiel team went into the winter break as leaders, but only got one point in the first three games of the second half of the season.
Setback for Fürth
SpVgg Greuther Fürth’s promotion dreams suffered the next setback against Hertha BSC. A week after the 2:3 in the top game against leaders FC St. Pauli, the Franconians, who were surprised twice at a standard, lost 1:2 (0:1) to the capital club. The game was interrupted twice due to fan protests against investors joining the German Football League.
Berlin’s Marc-Oliver Kempf (34th minute, 63rd) demonstrated his header strength twice, but then had to be substituted injured. Fürth’s captain Branimir Hrgota (56th) equalized with a wonderful shot in front of 13,459 spectators. In a game that ended up being nervous, Florian Niederlechner (90+10) was sent off with a yellow-red card. The Fürth team remains fourth in the table, Hertha climbed to eighth position.
Cellar duel without goals
VfL Osnabrück and Hansa Rostock are currently heading towards relegation. The goalless draw between the northern teams didn’t help either team. The situation is becoming increasingly hopeless, especially for the hosts. Although the promoted team remained unbeaten for the third time in a row, they are already nine points behind the relegation place.
As second to last, Hansa is still level on points with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 16th place, but was in very weak shape in Osnabrück. In front of 15,741 spectators in the sold-out stadium at Bremer Brücke, the guests were happy about the one point.