Finally successful, and almost no one saw it: In his first ghost game of the season, Bundesliga promoted SpVgg Greuther Fürth also scored his first triple point win: Against Union Berlin, a goal by Havard Nielsen in the 56th minute was enough to win the 24th. The home game of your own Bundesliga history can finally be won at the Ronhof. “We are enjoying the moment now, but not excessively,” said Fürth’s coach Stefan Leitl after the game at DAZN. “I’m happy for the team that they made history for the club.”
A week after the 1: 7 debacle in Leverkusen, the Franks were not only well recovered, but also much more stable. Which was mainly due to the fact that this time you didn’t run wild, but first aimed to be stable.
Fürth’s goalkeeper Sascha Burchert doesn’t have much to do at first
This departure from the own hara-kiri philosophy on Fürth’s side resulted in a rather poor game, especially before the break. The Iron, apparently still a little tired from being out in the Conference League on Thursday with the 1-1 draw against Slavia Prague, went into the game without nine-time goal scorer Taiwo Awoniyi, promptly not much was happening in the front line.
SpVgg goalkeeper Sascha Burchert only had to intervene twice in the first round, first against Max Kruse (13th), who suddenly appeared in front of him after a ricochet, later when he was able to clear the broken Kevin Behrens in the running duel (38th). . The hosts didn’t make a big headline attack either, Dickson Abiama hit the ball with his foot after a shot by Branimir Hrgota and forced Union goalkeeper Andreas Luthe to defend (7th), and the keeper snapped himself in the 19th minute a shot by Hrgota in the follow-up.
In the second round, Genki Haraguchi initially missed after the Franks had not got the ball out of the danger zone (53rd). Three minutes later the doorbell rang on the other side for a corner kick from Hrgota, which Haraguchi unfortunately extended to Nielsen; With a minimal nudge against Behrens, he created just as much space as was necessary to overcome Luthe with a deflected Kullerball.
Afterwards, goalscorer Nielsen was “extremely happy” and assessed his physical effort as conforming to the rules: “My only focus was to get to the ball quickly, in football a little contact is allowed and that wasn’t too much.” Union coach Urs Fischer, however, could not understand that referee Sven Jablonski recognized the goal: “For me, a clear wrong decision.”
The urge phase of the Berliners comes too late
What followed was an assault by the Berliners, while the hosts limited themselves to knocking the balls out of the back for the last half hour. “We weren’t efficient, there were enough chances to score a goal,” complained Fischer, who attested to his team that he “kept looking for solutions”. “Fürth was very low, we find it difficult.”
In the final phase, one high ball flew into the Fürth penalty area after the next. Goalkeeper Burchert once threw himself into a cross with both fists (83rd), less than a minute later Niko Gießelmann was blocked at the last second and chased the margin from six meters into the Franconian evening sky. When the meanwhile substitute Awoniyi (90th) and Andreas Voglsammer (90th + 2) had given the best header opportunities, it was clear: The long period of suffering in Fürth was finally over on the third Sunday in Advent.