Leon Balogun's 83rd minute equaliser was enough to secure a vital point for Darmstadt in their bid for 2.Bundesliga promotion.
Darmstadt started the brighter looking, to capitalise on teams around them dropping points. Yannick Stark’s strike caused some concern but his effort whistling past the post. Milan Ivana couldn’t quite nestle his free kick into the Munich net. His effort went just the wrong side of the goal.
The visitors broke the deadlock after 26 minutes. Jannik Bandowski’s shot placed into the bottom corner past the on-coming keeper to send the strugglers into an unlikely lead.
Moritz Volz drew a penalty after being brought down by Yannick Stark. Rubin Okotie’s penalty was a poor one, he went down the middle left but the torwart was equal.
Hanno Behrens’ header bounced wide from Milan Ivana’s free kick. Okotie with another chance to double 1860 München’s lead but his edge floats wide following a brilliant Jannik Bandowski’s close.
Fabian Holland had a golden opportunity to send the two in level at the break but he couldn’t direct his shot from outside the box goal wards.
Darmstadt started the second half brighter, Marco Sailer and Marcel Heller seeing their shots well saved and whiz wide respectively within two minutes of each other after the interval.
1860 had their backs against the wall in a hostile Stadion am Böllenfalltor, Ronny König header was well saved in the bottom corner from Fabian Holland’s delicious delivery. With just seven minutes remaining, Ronny König and Dominik Stroh-Engel’s shots were blocked in desperate 1860 attempts to sustain their lead but, their lead was no longer as the ball was cleared, only partially. Leon Balogun’s left footed strike facing away from goal trickled into the bottom corner it was a brilliant piece of skill from him with a beautiful finish to match.
It wasn’t over though, 1860 pushed for the second they needed but Christopher Schindler’s effort, destined for Mathenia pushed out the top corner superbly.
Darmstadt still had some energy left in the tank; Romain Brégerie couldn’t direct his free header goal wards and the scores still remained 1-1.
Okotie, trying to amend his penalty miss first half, had a great chance to snatch a win but his close-ranged effort couldn’t creep under the bar and his effort flew over, to his surprise.
Jan Rosenthal’s header a minute before stoppage time was brilliantly kept out by Ortega Moreno. At the other end, Kai Bülow’s effort flew over the bar as well. 1860 München couldn’t keep the ball down!
That was all she wrote, the second half was full of excitement but could only bring a goal. Darmstadt are just a win away from second placed Kaiserslautern, they’ve to win two of their last five, drawing the remaining three.
1860 München on the other hand are holding on. They’re just two points behind Erzgebirge Aue and just one point ahead of last-placed St Pauli.