Odise Roshi managed to fire home the winner, after coming off the bench, to secure a 0-1 win for FSV Frankfurt. A game that lacked any cutting edge,
Aalen, sitting in last place, were in desperate need of a turnaround. After falling to defeat against Braunschweig last weekend, they were bottom by two points, so Stefan Ruthenbeck made two changes to that side. Phil Ofosu-Ayeh and Leandro Grech started, as Fabio Kaufmann and Nejmeddin Daghfous dropped to the bench.
As for FSV Frankfurt, two wins and two draws from their last five games have seen them climb the table after a poor start. Benno Möhlmann kept faith in a similar side that drew 1-1 with Erzgebirge Aue last weekend, with a defensive change seeing Björn Schlicke coming in for Tom Beugelsdijk.
It wasn't until the twentieth minute that the game had it's first real chance, but their was no surprise when it fell to the visitors. Frankfurt were enjoying the better of the game and when Zlatko Dedic broke costless, it looked like he'd be putting them into the lead; however, some inspired defending and goalkeeping managed to keep Dedic and Vincenzo Grifo quiet from finding the net.
The first-half struggled to get going, as the hosts seemed more than happy to claim a draw. Aalen offered very little in attack, but remained solid in defence. FSV were by far the more enterprising, yet they themselves were enable to draw a save from the opposition goalkeeper. A spark was needed and that finally came in the second period.
Thankfully for all involved, especially the home fans, Aalen came out with more purpose after the break. Both sides also made changes to try and make the difference; Odise Roshi replaced Mario Engels, with Aalen opting for Andre Hainault to reinforce the back-line. Dominik Drexler was an absolute menace. Patrick Klandt had to speed out of his goal to prevent him from opening the scoring, before the striker then had a penalty appeal turned down.
It was Roshi who would provide the first goal of the game, which took seventy minutes to come; although, it was worth the wait. Grifo took a costless-kick short to Hanno Balitsch, it looked like it would be set for the Italian to strike at goal, but was a canny set-piece tactic instead. The centre-half flicked the ball to Roshi, who applied the finish that sent them ahead. Aalen set about trying to find an equaliser, as Jurgen Gjasula was brilliantly denied by Klandt.
Frankfurt lept up the table to the dizzy heights of 11th, just three points from sixth place. Their recent run was something to marvel at; they'll fancy their chances of taking points from Eintracht Braunschweig after the break. As for Aalen, they face Bochum in two weeks and will be desperate to pick up points before they get left for dead at the bottom of the league.