Openda the difference as Leipzig squeeze past Heidenheim

With the sun beating down on the Voith Arena pitch, a couple of meaty duels made for a warm welcome which greeted the Leipzig players who were forced to battle tooth and nail for a narrow 1-0 victory today. Both sides pushed hard for the opening goal but largely cancelled eachother out in the opening quarter of the game. Heidenheim diligently stuck to the task of plugging the middle which prevented Leipzig from breaking quickly. 

The first real chance of note fell the way of Benjamin Šeško who shot from range but failed to trouble Kevin Müller. Minutes before the break, Xavi Simons broke through the Heidenheim rearguard. The Netherlands star showed quick thinking to escape the challenges, however Müller made his presence known by smothering the effort. 

After the break things started to liven up and Die Roten Bullen appeared to make the breakthrough on 52 minutes via the head of Šeško from a Raum set-piece delivery. Celebrations in the gästeblock were cut short by VAR as arbiter Stegemann spotted a foul commited by Orbán on Mainka. However, parity would not last much longer - seven minutes later Nusa slipped Openda in on the angle to fire past Müller at his near post with a rasping drive.

Frank Schmidt's side refused to lie down and seemed to get a second wind with Mainka heading over the bar. The subsequent attack afforded Schöppner space to shoot from range which cannoned off the crossbar. Marvin Pieringer was next to be denied this time by Gulacsi who made a smart point-blank save. At the opposite end, the threat of Openda continued to loom. The Belgian came within the width of the left upright from doubling his tally.