2. Bundesliga Sunday: St. Pauli surprised by Hannover, another win for Thioune's Fortuna, Darmstadt and Hansa Rostock draw
The final three fixtures of matchday 23 in the second division saw St. Pauli's home record surprisingly snapped by Hannover, Thioune winning again with Fortuna Düsseldorf, and a draw between Darmstadt and Rostock.
FC St. Pauli 0-3 Hannover 96
St. Pauli boast the best home record in the league this season, but lost their first game at the Millerntor on Sunday. In truth, Hannover were excellent, and no match for a seemingly way better squad in St. Pauli. Despite underachieving for most of the season, Hannover is actually quite close to their opponents on market value, and that showed in the match. The hosts had the better of the first half until Dominik Kaiser's goal unbalanced proceedings. The game started to open up, and Cedric Teuchert nearly doubled Hannover's advantage before half-time, forcing a good save from Nikola Vasilj. On 57 minutes, Hannover looked destined for points when a H96 counter-attack ended with Sebastian Kerk scoring his 6th goal of the campaign. Sebastian Stolze ended any FCSP comeback hopes and Hannover won it 3-0. St. Pauli seem to be showing signs of cracking under pressure, and are now outside the promotion places once again.
Fortuna Düsseldorf 3-1 Erzgebirge Aue
Fortuna Düsseldorf made it 2 wins from 2 in the Daniel Thioune era, dispatching an Erzgebirge Aue side that is low on morale. Rouwen Hennings opened the scoring on 5 minutes, his 11th of the season which calmed the game down for Fortuna. In a dominating display with 19 attempts, Fortuna won a penalty which was converted by Daniel Ginczek on 51 minutes. Prince Owusu grabbed his first league goal of the season, giving Aue a glimmer of hope at 2-1, but Rouwen Hennings sealed the three points in added time.
Darmstadt 98 1-1 Hansa Rostock
Torsten Lieberknecht decided to leave Philipp Tietz and Luca Pfeiffer on the bench against Rostock. Darmstadt were in control, and led after 25 minutes when midfielder Tobias Kempe opened the scoring for the Lillies. Hansa are in some danger, and with Sandhausen closing in, they had to respond. An inspired substitute Danylo Sikan scored just two minutes after joining the game, and finished well from a Nico Neidhart cross. Tietz and Pfeiffer were introduced with 15 minutes to go, but Rostock stood strong and denied a victory for D98. Darmstadt climb back to 3rd on goal-difference, leapfrogging St. Pauli. Hansa are now level on points with 16th-placed Sandhausen, with the two teams set to battle on matchday 27.