AThanks to three goals by Tim Kleindienst, 1. FC Heidenheim climbed to the top of the table in the second Bundesliga, at least for one night. In the 5: 2 (2: 2) in the Baden-Württemberg duel with Karlsruher SC, the promotion candidate showed morale, because KSC initially presented on Friday evening.
Leon Jensen (14th minute) and Mikkel Kaufmann ensured a supposedly comfortable lead for coach Christian Eichner’s team before Kleindienst scored three times within eleven minutes (38’/45’/49′). Florian Pick (62nd) and substitute Kevin Sessa (89th) then made it clear.
While the FCH has been unbeaten for six games, the Karlsruhe team suffered a defeat after five wins in a row. They are in eighth place with 34 points.
In the early stages, the guests seamlessly continued the performance they had shown in the 4-2 win against Hamburger SV last Sunday. Jensen converted a rebound in front of 12,975 spectators and Kaufmann benefited from a mistake in the build-up of Tim Siersleben, who was substituted during the break.
The Heidenheimers reported back before the change of sides. Kleindienst scored twice from distance and after the break, the league’s top scorer with 19 goals headed in. The KSC never recovered from the home side’s race to catch up. Especially since Pick and Sessa added hits four and five. They also scored from afar.
Nuremberg scores late
Meanwhile, Arminia Bielefeld lost a 2-0 lead with new coach Uwe Koschinat and missed their second win in a row after conceding a late penalty in added time. In the home game against 1. FC Nürnberg on Friday, the East Westphalians did not get more than 2: 2 (2: 0) and failed to take another step towards staying in the class.
Masaya Okugawa (6th) and record player Fabian Klos (23rd) had put their team in the lead, for a long time harmless Nuremberg hit back in the second half with two goals from Kwadwo Duah (57th) and Erik Shuranov.
The Franconians thus averted their fourth away bankruptcy in a row, while the Bielefeld team fought for an important win in the duel to stay up in the league in the last second.
23,473 spectators in Bielefeld’s Schüco Arena saw Arminia motivated from the start, who scored their goals with simple means and took a deserved 2-0 lead at the break. Captain Fabian Klos, who is the only record player for Bielefeld with 409 competitive games, set the tone in his anniversary game like Okugawa. Like the Japanese, he prepared a goal and scored a goal himself with his full 18-meter shot.
Bielefeld only did the bare minimum against offensively harmless Nürnbergers, who, however, acted with increasing determination after a weak first half and were rewarded with a point with the last action of the game. Shuranov converted a penalty given late by referee Martin Petersen after VAR intervention.
