A strong second forty-five minutes from the hosts meant they'd have a six-point lead going into the English week of fixtures. Lukas Hinterseer and Stefan Lex scored the vital goals to seal an equally important win over promotion rivals Kaiserslautern.
Ingolstadt earned a hugely important win over promotion rivals RB Leipzig last weekend, thanks to Pascal Groß' early goal. There was only one change to Ralph Hasenhüttl's largely ever-present line-up and it was a forced alteration. Tobias Levels took his place in the starting eleven, after he replaced Konstantin Engel a week earlier in the 1-0 victory.
The Red Devils has a much more serene win in their last match, dispatching Erzegbirge Aue 3-0. Kosta Runjaic kept to the 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' adage, as he put out the same eleven that were three goals up at half-time in the aforementioned game. Willi Orban almost netted a hat-trick in that game, after he was denied by two goal-line clearances, though he knew he'd face a much more strenuous task at trying to add to his tally against a physically strong Ingolstadt side.
As expected, the game was tight and tense in the opening period. Neither side wanted to give their opponent that vital yard, with both goalkeepers called off their line to sweep up some wayward long balls. The creativity of Amin Younes, Mathew Leckie and others was almost completely eradicated by two of the best defences in the league. Though Srjdan Lackic had his powerful header expertly tipped over by Ramazan Özcan.
However, the on-loan Gladbach midfielder began to work his way into the game and was denied by another strong stop from Özcan. The visitors were pilling on the pressure, but a series of fouls were stopping any head of steam they got going. It was a match that had failed to live up to it's pre-match billing after forty-minutes of lacklustre play, though Kaiserslautern looked the most-likely side to make a breakthrough.
That meant little, as Hasenhüttl sent his men out on a mission. Plenty of early costless-kicks were won by the hosts and Groß' pin-point delivery finally paid off. The midfielder whipped in a fantastic ball from the right-hand side, which Lukas Hinterseer duly applied the finish to and bundled it home. Tobias Sippel was rooted to his line, though questions were asked as to whether he could have come to claim the dead-ball delivery.
The game had now sprung into life and things were going from bad to worse for Kaiserslautern. After a cynical challenge on Leckie, Younes was walking a tight-rope and he then went in, studs-up, on Benjamin Hübner. That left referee Knut Kircher with no choice but to send him off. The visitors dominance was wiped out in eight second-half minutes; they could have been in an even worse situation had Leckie's shot crept inside the post, although it drifted just wide.
As expected, Ingolstadt then began to control the game and spray the ball about the pitch. Kaiserslautern did their best to force an equaliser, but a mistake would seal the game for the hosts. A long ball forward from Özcan was misjudged by Dominique Heintz, allowing substitute Stefan Lex to race clear and chip the stranded Sippel. Hasenhüttl's side had further chances to extend their lead, though the Red Devils escaped any further punishment.
The three points means the home side go six points clear of Karslruher in second and seven ahead of Darmstadt, with another important home game against St. Pauli on Tuesday. Kaisersluatern are eight behind die Schanzer, after suffering their first loss in as many games. They'll hope to turn things around against the struggling 1860 Munich during the week.