The Voith-Arena was the setting for RB Leipzig's trip to Heidenheim and they immediately knew they were in a game, after some rough tackles within the opening stages. Leipzig were the better team in the first half but couldn't make it count and just five minutes after the restart Florian Niederlechner tapped-in what proved to be the winning goal.
After eventually ending their rotten losing run at 1. FC Nürnberg, VfL Bochum had piled further misery onto Frank Schmidt's side by inflicting a 4-1 defeat. He did keep faith in the majority of his players, despite the drubbing, and only made one change. Julius Reinhardt dropped out for Adriano Grimaldi, as they went for a more attacking line-up.
Leipzig picked up a huge three points against Fortuna Düsseldorf a week prior, which kept their promotion push alive and gave them hope of catching the top three. Achim Beierlorzer was beginning to get things rolling in his interim time in charge and made one alteration from the previous win, with Georg Teigl (suspended) replaced by Diego Demme.
The game yielded little in the way of early opportunities. Demme and Philipp Heise saw yellow early on, as both sides struggled to get going. The visitors were dealt a blow early on with Stefan Hierländer was unable to continue, meaning Zsolt Kalmar was brought into the action a little earlier than expected.
Florian Neiderlechner's effort was the only real opportunity of the opening stages, though it provided no great concern to the experienced Fabio Coltorti. Omer Damari finally created an opportunity of note, although Jan Zimmerman got down brilliantly to tip the Israeli international's curler round the post.
It was fair to say that Heidenheim were putting all their effort into the game, but their tackling had left two Leipzig players requiring treatment and they'd picked up three bookings within half an hour; something that would have been far from pleasing for Beierlorzer.
The rough and physical play continued, although the Red Bulls managed to see it out to half-time without picking up another injury. The first-half lacked that cutting edge and the final piece of quality required to make the breakthrough.
Unsurprisingly, the first action after half time was another booking for Heidenheim. Niederlechner went straight through the back of Rodnei and Norbert Grudzinski handed out another yellow. Emil Forsberg almost found an open goal too, but Zimmermann was equal to his well-executed volley.
The beginning of the second forty-five minutes had already produced a better show than the first and Niederlechner managed to open the scoring in the crazy period. Robert Leipertz drove a half-cleared corner back towards goal and it was turned in by the alert forward. What looked to be a shot turned out to be a great ball and Niederlechner was more than happy to poke home his tenth of the season.
Heidenheim were starting to take control and Leipzig were forced into some desperate defending to prevent themselves from falling further behind. Leipertz almost added a goal to his assist, but the visitors, somehow, scrambled the ball clear. Anthony Jung was especially key in ensuring they didn't concede a second.
Leipzig offered little in the final stages and couldn't force a decent chance, as they failed to take advantage of Darmstadt, Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern dropping points. They sit six points behind KSC, ahead of their trip to 1. FC Nürnberg in two weeks time.
Marc Schnatterer almost sealed the game late on, but he was denied by a full-stretch Coltorti. Though that mattered little as his side moved back into the tip half and were starting to regain some early season form. Heidenheim will face a tough trip to Kaiserslautern after the international break, although they'll be full of confidence for that clash.