Bobby Wood double seals vital three points in Ergzebirge Aue’s bid for survival.
A win for Fortuna could’ve seen them rise to as high as second if they beat their opponents today.
Strugglers Aue were fighting for survival going into Matchday 21, they needed just three points to shed some daylight between themselves and the dreaded drop zone.
A fiercely contested first fifteen minutes between the two sides, Michael Liendl’s strike after thirteen minutes forced a good save out of the Aue goalkeeper.
However, the pressure from the hosts was short lived as Aue opened the scoring, Stefan Mugosa found Wood free in the middle and squared it to the twenty-two year old who stretched to tap in.
Fortuna pressured for the equaliser Charlison Benschop and Michael Liendl both saw their efforts blocked after twenty minutes. But poor control by Michael Fink went straight to Dusseldorf midfielder Axel Bellinghausen who equalised for Dusseldorf, slotting it past the on-coming Mänuel.
Five minutes later, Wood doubled his tally for the night, Schonfeld did brilliantly to ride the tackle of three players, he cut back to Wood who’s tap in deflected off Bodzek as it made it’s way into the net.
Stefan Mugosa’s third goal before the interval was rather fortunate, Rankovic did brilliantly to again burst past the full back, his cut back to Mugosa, despite the best efforts of Dusseldorf Michael Rensing’s right leg, the ball looped in for struggling Aue.
Aue went in at the break unexpectedly leading 3-1. The hosts were shell-shocked.
Aue pushed on for the all important fifth goal after the restart, Airbaz nearly added insult to injury on seventy minutes, bit his free kick grazed the roof of the net.
Fortuna piled on the pressure; Aue could barely get out their own half. Joel Pohjanplo right-footed effort whistled past the post.
Aue showed some resilience, however, Stefan Mugosa’s effort was deflected wide and Patrick Schönfeld’s effort from the resulting corner edged past the post, he should’ve really put it away.
In the remaining ten minutes, Dusseldorf were awarded a penalty for a foul on Bellinghausen, Liendl sent Manuel the wrong way to give them a glimmer of hope.
However, Aue held on to seal all three points. The locals more than angry as they should've been more clinical on the day.
Dusseldorf miss out on the chance to move into the top three Red Bull Leipzig could overtake them with a win.
Aue held on to win, eventually after sustaining heavy pressure. They move up to fifteenth just two points ahead of Aalen.