Hamburger SV has suffered what may have been a decisive setback in the promotion race of the 2nd Bundesliga. On the other hand, table leader Holstein Kiel came a lot closer to making it into the first league for the first time thanks to the 1-0 (0-0) win at HSV. In their sixth success in a row without conceding a goal, Tom Rothe (59th) scored the winning goal. After Lewis Holtby was sent off (73′), Holstein survived the final phase outnumbered. With 61 points, Kiel are twelve points ahead of fourth-placed HSV (49 points) and have a clearly better goal difference four game days before the end of the season. They are almost certain of third place in the promotion relegation. The Hamburg team absolutely had to win in order to at least be able to hope for third place. The gap to Fortuna Düsseldorf is now six points.
Düsseldorf scores three times against Fürth
The Fortunes, on the other hand, can still hope for a return to the Bundesliga. With the 1-0 (0-0) against SpVgg Greuther Fürth, coach Daniel Thioune’s team consolidated third place in the table.
Thanks to Vincent Vermeij’s goal (69th), the former first division team celebrated their sixth league win in a row and reduced the gap to second division runners-up FC St. Pauli to two points. However, the recently faltering North Germans can restore the old gap on Sunday with a win at Hannover 96.
Clear Braunschweig victory in the basement duel
Eintracht Braunschweig took a big step towards staying in the league and all but sealed the relegation of VfL Osnabrück. The Braunschweigers won the Lower Saxony duel in Osnabrück 3-0 (2-0) and thus improved, at least temporarily, to 13th place in the table. Osnabrück, on the other hand, remains bottom of the table and is seven points behind the relegation place with four game days before the end of the season.
In front of 15,741 spectators in the sold-out stadium at the Bremer Brücke, Anton Donkor (9th minute) and Rayan Philippe (40th) gave the guests the lead in the first half. After the break, Johan Gomez (60th) made everything clear for the team of coach Daniel Scherning, who once worked as a coach in Osnabrück. Kwasi Okyere Wriedt also missed a penalty kick in stoppage time for the purple-whites.
Kaiserslautern missed an important victory
In the fight to stay in the league, 1. FC Kaiserslautern missed an important home win and remains in a direct relegation spot in the table. On the 30th matchday, coach Friedhelm Funkel’s team only managed a 1-1 (1-0) draw against rivals SV Wehen Wiesbaden. The goals were scored by Filip Kaloc (30th minute) for FCK and Ivan Prtajin (74th) for the guests.
