Steve Cherundolo and Hannover notched a narrow win against Stuttgart while David Yelldell worked Koblenz's goal in their huge upset over Fürth.
Hannover 96 1 - 0 VfB Stuttgart
Steve Cherundolo and Hannover put another nail into the coffin of beleaguered Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel as they rode a 31st minute goal to a home victory.
Hannover made the most of their meager chances, as midfielder Arnold Jan Bruggink shook off two Stuttgart defenders to face Stuttgart keeper Jens Lehmann alone in the box. Rather than test the keeper, he laid the ball off to a wide-open Didier Ya Konan, who calmly found the net from three yards out.
Of the five Hannover shots for the day, this was the lone attempt that was actually on goal.
The visitors controlled play and dominated the game, yet were unable to break through. Eight of their 14 shots were on goal, yet they could not find the final touch to get onto the scoreboard.
Of their many quality chances, perhaps the best was Ciprian Marica's shot in the 90th minute from ten yards out that was saved by Hannover keeper Florian Fromlowitz.
Stuttgart's frustration with their disappointing season and nothing to show for dominating this game began to spill over late in the match. The match was physical throughout, with a total of 47 fouls between the teams and eight yellow cards handed out, six to Stuttgart players. Of these, three were given in the final ten minutes.
Since 11th-place Hannover has also been eliminated from the German Cup, their next match is at FC Cologne on Saturday.
Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 - 0 FC Cologne
Michael Bradley and Borussia Mönchengladbach broke their five game losing streak against visiting FC Köln. Unfortunately for the hosts, they were unable to find the back of the net and had to settle for a single point despite dominating the match.
Mönchengladbach attacked throughout with Cologne content to defend and wait for an occasional opening. The strategy almost paid off in the form of an own goal as defender Dante's pass to Logan Bailly eluded the goalkeeper and barely went wide of the post in 22nd minute.
In the 45th minute, Manasseh Ishiaku's shot just wide from 13 yards after a nice through pass from Lukas Podolski.
For the home team, Roel Brouwers' header was cleared off the line in their best chance of the match. Bradley played the entire match and was involved on both sides of the ball throughout, highlighted by a flurry of shots in the last ten minutes.
In that span he had five of his six shots, including a near miss from inside the six yard box off a set piece, and several shots from just outside the top of the penalty box.
Since Mönchengladbach has been eliminated from the German Cup, their next game will be in Hamburg to face Hamburger SV on Halloween.
SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1 - 2 TuS Koblenz
David Yelldell and Koblenz rode a strong defensive performance and a pair of first-half goals by Shefki Kuqi to a much-needed upset over SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Friday.
Koblenz came into the game having failed to notch up a win in their last seven league games, and were clear underdogs to the surging Franconians, themselves winners of their last two.
In a repeat of several of their recent contests, the visitors jumped out to an early lead, after a failed clearance from Fürth captain Marino Biliskov left the ball directly at the feet of Kuki, who buried his ten-yard shot to the middle of goal for the third-minute Koblenz advantage.
The hosts were unfazed by the early goal and pushed for the equalizer, which came in the 26th minute when Sami Allagui beat his defender on the left side of the Koblenz area and hammered his shot to the far post, leaving Yelldell no chance.
Looking headed to another predictable collapse, the visitors retook the lead in the first minute of added time, when Christian Müller headed a pass to Kuqi, who was on target with his tight-angled shot to the far corner.
Fürth pushed to salvage a point in the second half, but lacked the crispness to create any real danger in front of Yelldell's goal, with the three points finally going to the visitors.
The win still leaves Koblenz in the 16th-place relegation spot, however significantly narrows their gap to safety to within a single point, which they will hope to pick up when hosting Duisburg on Sunday.
FSV Frankfurt 3 - 2 1860 Munich
Kenny Cooper took the field for 1860 Munich as a 66th minute substitute, however their late comeback against last-place FSV Frankfurt fell just short as they suffered an embarrassing loss on Saturday.
The Lions had seemingly broken their recent poor run with a resounding victory over Duisburg the previous weekend and were expecting a fairly easy road to the three points over the league's last-place whipping boys Frankfurt, who were still without a win.
They got off to a bad start when a botched clearance from Radhouene Felhi fell at the feet of Jürgen Gjasula near the penalty stripe, with the Albanian midfielder burying his shot to the upper left corner in the 18th minute.
The scoreline held through midway into the second half, when 1860 keeper Gabor Kiraly brought down Gjasula in the box in conceding the penalty, with Matias Cenci easily converting the spot kick to the upper left corner for the 2-0 lead.
Cooper entered the game in the 66th minute for Sandro Kaiser and quickly made his presence known with a shot flying just high of goal seven minutes later.
The afternoon turned disastrous for the visitors in the 79th minute, when a free kick from Pai Saikou Kujabi hit the post, and Sanibal Orahovac was quickest to pick up the loose ball then drop a short pass in front of goal where Cidimar had no problems to bury his close range shot.
Faced with a three-goal deficit, the Lions took one back in the 85th minute when Aleksandar Ignjovski set up Peniel Kokou Mlapa, then cut the lead to one in added time as Alexander Ludwig headed the ball to Stefan Aigner directly in front of goal for an easy score.
Their luck ran out, however, as the referee's final whistle blew shortly after awarding Frankfurt their first victory of the season.
Matt Taylor was left off of Frankfurt's roster due to a reported flu bug.
The win lifts the hosts off of the bottom spot into 17th, still five points shy of safety, while the Lions drop to 14th place with 11 points, only two ahead of the 16th-place relegation playoff spot.
FC Ingolstadt 04 0 - 0 Dynamo Dresden
Ian Joy made his league debut for Ingolstadt, going the distance as they battled to a scoreless draw with visitors Dynamo Dresden on Friday evening.
After suffering through a disappointing 2-0 defeat the previous weekend, Ingolstadt Horst Köppel made several alterations to his starting lineup, including the insertion of Joy as starting left back for his first run-out in 3. Liga action.
The struggling Dynamo initially showed more initiative immediately following the opening whistle, but were unable to create any danger in front of their hosts' goal.
Ingolstadt quickly turned matters to their favor, with the 3. Liga's leading marksman Moritz Hartmann nearly putting them ahead with a shot in the 15th minute.
Clearly overpowered by "die Schanzer", Dynamo took up a highly defensive game for most of the second half to play for the point, and were successful in limiting Ingolstadt's chances in front of goal.
The hosts upped the pressure in the final 15 minutes with hopes of breaking through for a late winner, but found no way through Dresden's defense with the the teams ultimately each taking one point.
Joy will hope his participation in Ingolstadt's dominating performance in stifling the Dynamo's attack will keep him in the team's starting role as they try to improve on their ninth place standing on Saturday on their visit to FC Heidenheim.
Notes
Bryan Arguez did not suit up for Hertha as they held Wolfsburg to a goalless draw in Berlin on Sunday.
Jermaine Jones is still recovering from his broken leg and took no part in Schalke's wild 3-3 draw with visiting Hamburg on Sunday.
Luis Robles watched from the bench on Friday as Kaiserslautern suffered their first defeat of the season, a difficult 2-0 loss at home to Fortuna Düsselforf. |
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