With their first Bundesliga win under Urs Fischer in the basement duel at the end of the first half of the season, 1. FSV Mainz 05 handed over the “Red Lantern” of the bottom of the table to 1. FC Heidenheim. The 2-1 (1-0) was Rheinhessen’s first home game win since February 2025 and the first three points after twelve games without a win.
Silvan Widmer (30th minute) and Nadiem Amiri (48th) scored the goals for the hosts in front of 24,500 spectators in the Mewa Arena. Stefan Schimmer (60th) scored for the guests. Mainz caught up on points (twelve) to Heidenheim and FC St. Pauli, who have two games fewer. Thanks to the better goal difference, Mainz finished the first half of the season at least 17th in the table. Heidenheim is last. “A very, very important victory at an important time against an opponent who is down there with us,” said Mainz sports director Niko Bungert on Sky: “Today we somehow got it over time. Whether it was nice, whether it was deserved, in the end it doesn’t really matter to any of us.”
Fischer had to do without striker Benedikt Hollerbach, who was ill, for a short time. Armindo Sieb came into the starting line-up for him. Fellow coach Frank Schmidt made two changes to his team after the 2-2 draw against Cologne. Benedikt Gimber and Mikkel Kaufmann play in place of Tim Siersleben and Sirlord Conteh, who was only on the bench due to load management.
Initially the guests took control, Mainz withdrew far in the sparsely occupied Mewa Arena and left the ball to Heidenheim. Scenes in the penalty area were in short supply. Nikolas Veratschnig (8th) shot dangerously at goal for the first time, but later had to leave the field with a muscle injury. Kaufmann (11th) shot past the Mainz goal.
Both teams neutralized each other during the half. The few shots were harmless, the passes in the penalty area were too imprecise. Marvin Pieringer (26th) and Gimber (28th) were denied by Daniel Batz in the Mainz goal. The goal came out of nowhere for the hosts. After a return, Ramaj played a pass right into the foot of Jae-Sung Lee, who crossed directly to the free Widmer in the penalty area. Ramaj was powerless against the Swiss’s direct acceptance. Philip Tietz (37th) missed the possible 2-0.
Joker shimmer makes it exciting
After the restart, Mainz got off to a dream start. Amiri completed a nice one-two with Tietz to make the preliminary decision. Two minutes later, Ramaj reflexively parried the national player’s shot. The home team stayed on the trigger and didn’t let Heidenheim get into the game. A counterattack made the game exciting again. Schimmer scored just 85 seconds after coming on as a substitute for the visitors.
After that, Mainz completely lost track, acted anxiously and left the ball to the increasingly strong Heidenheimers. They pressed vehemently for the next goal. The home team only reacted and hardly ever threatened the visitors’ goal at any point. And they were lucky again when Arijon Ibrahimovic (85th) hit the bottom of the crossbar with a deflected shot.
