Despite Arvydas Novikovas' equaliser, goals from Ryu Sueng-Woo and Vegar Hedenstad won a vital three points for Eintracht Braunschweig; the side from lower Saxony now sit eighth, with their aim of bouncing back to the Bundesliga in sight.
Sitting in sixteenth position, Aue and boss Tomislav Stipic were desperate to get some much needed points on the board. Thomas Paulus was replaced by Patrick Schönfeld, allowing Michael Fink to take up a position in central-defence. As for Braunschweig, they were aiming for their fourth straight win in all competitions. Marcel Correia was fit again to take his place in the starting eleven, as he replaced Matthias Henn. Captain Dennis Kruppke, who scored the winning goal against Aalen, replaced the injured Havard Nielsen.
Ryu Sueng-Woo, who also netted in that game, added to his tally within the first ten minutes. Rafael Gikiewicz' long kick up field found Raffael Korte with pin-point accuracy. Not to be out done, Korte brought the ball down and played a sumptuous, defensive slitting forty-yard pass to Sueng-Woo. After a fantastic first touch, the South Korean powered home on the half-volley, leaving Martin Männel with no chance.
The onslaught continued, as Thorsten Lieberknecht's men set about peppering the home goal and pressing them into submission. The work-rate shown was nothing new, but the successfulness of it was staggering. Sueng-Woo, Kruppke, Korte and co. reigned down shots on Männel, but he somehow managed to repel them all. Aue offered very little in attack, though Romario Kortzorg was proving a handful when he finally got the ball. Though Braunschweig were made to regret those missed chances in the run up to half-time.
A seemingly poor costless-kick from Aue was floated in, but Daniel Siebert saw a foul that no-one else had and signalled for a penalty. Benjamin Kessel laid nothing more than a hand on Stipe Vucur, only for the defender to take a dramatic tumble and earn his side a spot-kick. Arvydas Novikovas stepped up and true to form, the hosts only just converted the penalty; Ginkiewicz guessed the right way, though he couldn't push the ball over the bar and Aue were level.
Braunschweig regain their lead within fifteen minutes of the restart. Freiburg loanee Vegar Hedenstad cut inside and unleashed a rocket towards goal. The ball dipped and swerved, out of Mannel's reach, only for the ball to cannon off the bar and onto the Austrian's back. Try as he might, the goalkeeper couldn't recover and the ball agonisingly trickled over the line; not that Hedenstad minded, as he notched up his first goal for the Lions.
Temperatures were began to rise, as the game headed into the final stages. Aue had came out of their shell and were eventually forcing Correia and Ken Reichel into some meaningful defensive work. Even with the introduction of Mike Könnecke, the pacey winger couldn't convert a golden chance that fell his way and Braunschweig held to earn another three points.
The win takes Lieberknecht's men within a point of Fortuna Düsseldorf in third place, as their push for promotion back to the Bundesliga begins to take shape. As for Aue, their struggle continues and doesn't get any easier after the two week break; they travel to Karlsruher, while Braunschweig travel to floundering FSV Frankfurt.