The Frankenstadion was treated to a full-force clash on Saturday afternoon, with two of the 2. Bundesliga's in-form sides going head-to-head. Despite Nürnberg dominating the second-half and taking the lead through Guido Burgstaller, a staunch defensive performance from Karlsruhe meant that Rouwen Hennings' goal proved to be the all important equaliser.
The Rene Weiler revival was continuing in Nürnberg and a 1-3 comeback win against Fortuna Düsseldorf was further evidence of that. They were making a late charge for promotion back to the Bundesliga, though they knew it would take an almost flawless run to do so. There was just one change to the side that beat Fortuna, as Niclas Füllrug replaced Alessandro Schöpf.
Karlsruhe were held to a nil-nil draw against VfL Bochum last weekend and were singing the praises of Rene Vollath for keeping it that way. The stand-in stopper did a fine job in Dirk Orlishausen's absence and there was a further boost for head coach Markus Kauczinski, as Enrico Valentini returned from suspension to replace Philipp Klingmann.
There was nothing that Vollath could do to stop Guido Burgstaller from opening the scoring after just four minutes, however. Some slick passing in the middle third allowed the Austrian to evade the attentions of Philipp Max and break through on goal. He stayed calm and poked past the onrushing 'keeper to score his first goal for the Frankenstadion side; a dream start in such a crucial game.
Though they fought back straight away and almost found an immediate equaliser. Even Hovland severely misjudged his header back to Patrick Rakovsky and the Nürnberg goalkeeper had to race out to put off Manuel Torres. The Spaniard's chip went just wide, as the Norwegian breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Karlsruhe were seeing plenty of the ball, but apart from the Torres chance they were struggling to force themselves through the hosts' defence. A long ball then sent through Jakub Sylvestr, the Czech forward couldn't sort his feet out and Vollath was out quickly to produce an important stop.
Sylvestr was handed an even better opportunity to double the lead just before half-time. The hosts broke forward with pace and purpose, they pushed the ball out wide to Burgstaller and he drilled in a fantastic cross to Sylvester. He got underneath the ball and it flew well over the bar.
He was made to pay for the two glaring misses, as Karlsruhe levelled on the stroke of half-time. Some great work on the wings from Torres allowed him to cross to Rouwen Hennings. The Dutchman controlled the ball and finished into the open goal, after the cross had taken out the majority of Nürnberg's back-line, for his eighth goal of the season.
The beginning of the second-half was played in a similar vein to that of the first, though that did mean that chances were few and far between.
Nürnberg and Karlsruhe were struggling to break through each others' strong midfield set-ups and set-pieces were slowly becoming the best chance of a breakthrough. A flurry of yellow cards stood testament to the ever increasing physicality of the game, which neither wanted to lose.
Jan Polak almost snapped the post in two after his thunderous half-volley rattled the woodwork, with Vollath left grasping at thin air. The hosts continued to bombard the Karlsruhe goal but just couldn't force home a winner, even hitting the bar in the final stages, as the game ended all square.
Nürnberg moved level on points with Eintracht Braunschweig after the draw and will be keen to build on their solid performance against Heidenheim on Friday. As for Karlsruhe, they lost ground on both SV Darmstadt 98 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern; though it was an incredibly tough game checked off the list and they'll want to bounce back against RB Leipzig next Monday.