1. FC Heidenheim has added to the promotion race of the 2nd Bundesliga and inflicted the next significant defeat on Hannover 96.
Coach Frank Schmidt’s team, which hadn’t won twice recently, won convincingly 3-0 (3-0) against Lower Saxony and moved up to second place in the table for the time being.
For 96 it was six days after the 1: 6 against Hamburger SV the next blow.
The outstanding Jan-Niklas Beste (31st) initiated the victory, goals from Tim Kleindienst (35th) and Denis Thomalla (45th + 4) put Beste on strong.
In the second half, Heidenheim’s goalkeeper Kevin Müller parried a penalty kick from Maximilian Beier (82′).
With 54 points, Heidenheim is four points behind leaders Darmstadt 98 and one point ahead of HSV. However, the two promotion competitors can still top up in the further course of the 28th matchday.
Heidenheim turns up the heat before the break
After a cautious start and a crossbar shot by Derrick Köhn (5th), Heidenheim came up trumps. With two goals within four minutes, Schmidt’s team pulled away, Thomalla’s header just before the break was another setback for Hannover.
Nevertheless, coach Stefan Leitl’s team didn’t give up and went on the offensive. Heidenheim’s goalkeeper Müller was already beaten by a header from Phil Neumann (54′), Florian Pick saved on the line. Müller responded brilliantly to Beier’s penalty.
