Greuther Fürth and Arminia Bielefeld, who have been relegated to the Bundesliga, are threatened with falling into the 3rd division. Before the basement duel, the Franconians swap their trainers – and Alexander Zorniger’s debut is successful. Disappointing Bielefeld slipped to last place. Meanwhile, 1. FC Magdeburg also scores.
SpVgg Greuther Fürth has given its new coach Alexander Zorniger a tailor-made debut and left the last place in the 2nd Bundesliga table. The Franconians won 1-0 (1-0) against Arminia Bielefeld and shot the Bundesliga team to the bottom of the table. Zorniger succeeded the hapless Marc Schneider on Sunday.
In the first game under Zorniger’s direction, Fürth put in a decent performance – but didn’t have too much resistance against largely harmless guests. Armindo Sieb (30th) gave the hosts the lead, shortly afterwards referee Felix Brych left the field for a short knee treatment. The long-time FIFA referee was able to continue the game.
Fürth started the game with a lot of momentum, especially Branimir Hrgota was involved in many attacks. However, both teams failed to create chances at first. Significantly, the Fürth goal came from a mess in the Bielefeld penalty area. Goalscorer Sieb was ultimately shot by Guilherme Ramos and the ball flew into the visitors’ goal.
With the lead behind them, Fürth pushed to make it 2-0, but Hrgota’s shot was cleared by Ramos on the line for goalkeeper Martin Fraisl, who had already been beaten (45′). After that, Fürth remained more dangerous and was closer to the second goal. Bielefeld hardly came to conclusions, played much too erratic and harmless.
After conceding a late goal, 1. FC Heidenheim missed out on third place in the 2nd Bundesliga table. Coach Frank Schmidt’s team only drew 1-1 (1-0) at newly promoted FC Magdeburg and remains in fourth place with 24 points, three points ahead of pursuers Hannover 96.
Tatsuya Ito (90.3) equalized Denis Thomalla’s opening goal (23′) and thus not only prevented Heidenheim’s triumph, but also secured Magdeburg an important point in the relegation battle. Coach Christian Titz’s team is still in 15th place with 14 points.
Heidenheim gave the hosts complete control in front of 19,352 spectators and defended resolutely. The guests used mistakes made by Magdeburg’s back line several times to finish off with quick counterattacks. Patrick Mainka (8th) and Tim Kleindienst (18th) had good chances to take the lead early on. The Magdeburgers could not capitalize on the many ball possessions, shot attempts were blocked again and again.
Titz had bet on the eleven that had recently won 3-2 at HSV. The hosts tried to put pressure on from the start, but weren’t forceful enough. Instead, the Heidenheimers used one of their numerous counterattacks. After a cross by Jan-Niklas Beste, Thomalla was served by Kleindienst and finished effortlessly. Shortly before the final whistle, Ito struck for Magdeburg.
