Goals from Charliston Benschop and Ben Halloran sealed an important three points for promotion chasing Fortuna Düsseldorf. The home side had a Vincenzo Grifo penalty saved in the second half, as their season continues on it's rollercoaster path.
Benno Möhlmann's have gone through some erratic form in recent weeks; with four wins, three loses and a draw in their last eight games. It's a run that's seen them begin to rise up the table, though the absence of captain Manuel Konrad (suspension) was a big blow. He was replaced by Joni Kauko, while last weekend's goalscorer Edmond Kapllani started instead of Zlatko Dedic.
After an impressive start to the season, Fortuna were without a win in their last three games. There were muted talks of cracks beginning to appear in Olli Reck's side after the defeats to Aalen and Sandhausen, but he was keen to rubbish those claims. Christian Gartner and Joel Pohjanpalo dropped out after the surprise 1-3 defeat on Friday, with Sergio Pinto and Tuğrul Erat coming in.
The game started off with tackles flying in from both sides, as Michael Liendl and Alexander Bittroff were both lucky to get off with nothing more than a few bruises. Young Mario Engels was causing plenty of problems for Axel Bellinghausen; his driving run almost paid dividends, but after collecting a return pass he could only fire into the arms of Lars Unnerstall.
Fortuna were slowly working their way into the game, with Erat and Ben Halloran beginning to see more of the ball. Despite multiple attempts to find the sizeable Charliston Benschop, the final ball was just not quite there and the hosts were able to clear. When Halloran produced a brilliant piece of skill to beat his man, he picked out the Dutch forward and he produced a fine reaction save from Patrick Klandt. Recently called up to the Australia squad for the Asia Cup, Halloran was denied by a marvelous block tackle from the recovering Engels.
Benschop and his Aussie partner in crime couldn't be stopped for the entire forty-five and on the half-time whistle, they went ahead. Fortuna's striker picked the ball up on the edge of the box, before striking a powerful shot towards goal. Unfortunately for Klandt, the relatively harmless shot took a huge deflection off Halloran's boot and left the home side's stopper completely wrong-footed. On the balance of play it was a deserved goal, though the nature of it will have left FSV cursing their luck.
There was a big blow at the start of the second period for Frankfurt, who saw Kapllani injured once more and replaced by Dedic. However, it was the forwards at the other end who would deal the killer blow. Some intricate passing from Halloran, Liendl and finally Benschop led to the latter smashing a low shot past Klandt. The goalkeeper could barely edge his foot out before the ball was past him, with the Dutchman notching up his ninth goal of the season.
Even when Frankfurt had the golden chance to get back into the game, they couldn't take it. Julian Schaurte brought down Vincenzo Grifo in the area, as the right-back clipped his heels. Grifo stepped up, without a goal in his last six games, striking it horribly and easily into the arms of Unnerstall. The Italian looked totally void of any confidence and his penalty lacked conviction, with everything and anything going against the home side today.
Despite a few late scares, Reck's side came through with a hugely important three points. The win takes them up to fourth and puts them within touching distance of Karlsruher and Kaiserslautern in the places above. It sets them up nicely for a vital clash against fellow promotion rival Eintracht Braunschweig on Tuesday. As for Frankfurt, their up-and-down form continues, keeping them in fourteenth. Möhlmann's men have a quick turnaround too, as they also play in three days time, facing off against Heidenheim.