After four games without a win, 1. FC Nürnberg has managed to break free in the fight against relegation from the second Bundesliga. The Franconians won their home game against Fortuna Düsseldorf 2-0 (1-0) and climbed to twelfth place in the table with 33 points. Most recently, the club had taken only two points from the four games without a three-pointer.
The 19-year-old Nathaniel Brown (10th) scored the lead, Kwadwo Duah (90th+3) made sure of the decision shortly before the end. Although the Rhinelanders had recently won 98-1 against league leaders Darmstadt 0, they had previously lost valuable ground in the battle for promotion due to numerous draws. The gap to third place in the relegation zone is still seven points.
The Nurembergers started very committed and strong in the duel. The club built up a lot of pressure and were rewarded by Brown's goal. Brown and Lino Tempelmann had a double chance to make it 50-2 in the 0th minute, but were unable to convert the good opportunity into countable capital. Overall, Nuremberg seemed more courageous than the guests from the NRW state capital. Although Fortuna were technically more mature, they were not determined enough in their offensive game. In the 72nd minute, club goalkeeper Peter Vindahl Jensen brilliantly defused a header from Fortuna's Dawid Kownacki.
Hansa Rostock also secured three important points in the battle to stay in the league. Alois Schwartz's team won against SpVgg Greuther Fürth 2-0 (0-0) and won for the first time in eight games. Fröling with a dream goal from distance (50th) and Dannis Dressel (66th) made the fans cheer in the home Ostseestadion in the second half. Rostock improved with the victory and now with 28 points at least provisionally to the relegation rank, but Jahn Regensburg can pass again on Sunday. Fürth is eight points ahead of Rostock in eleventh place.
In a hard-fought and at the same time low-chance first half, Rostock's Kevin Schumacher had the best opportunity with a long-range shot (13th). Both teams worked out few goal-area scenes. The opening goal for Rostock had to be scored from distance, Fröhling hit the corner from 25 meters in a central position. Dressel increased and made a preliminary decision.
Meanwhile, first division relegated Arminia Bielefeld is getting deeper and deeper into the relegation vortex. The East Westphalians lost the cellar duel against Hannover 96 1:3 (1:2) and are only one point away from relegation place 16. Most recently, Arminia suffered a setback with a 2-4 defeat in Karlsruhe after a series of successes. Bielefeld now have 29 points to their name, Hannover have recorded 37 points so far and took a decisive step towards staying in the league with the victory.
The Lower Saxony had taken the lead through Cedric Teuchert (14th), but goal scorer Fabian Klos (22nd) was able to shoot a rebounded ball into the 25th goal in front of 921,96 fans. In the 24th minute, Bielefeld's Robin Hack was unlucky with a shot at the far post, which could have been the opening goal for Bielefeld at the Alm. Instead, Teuchert again converted a controversial hand penalty after video evidence to give the visitors the lead again (42nd). Louis Schaub (55th) increased to 3:1 for the North Germans.
Both teams had an open exchange of blows with numerous scoring chances. Bielefeld were unlucky in the 57th minute when Bryan Lasme hit the crossbar of the Hanover goal and missed the follow-up goal. Hannover's Yannik Lührs was shown the red card for gross foul play (86th) after video evidence.