Sandhausen put in a great performance to dampen the spirits of Eintracht Braunschweig, as they surprised everyone in coming out 3-1 winners.

There were plenty of debuts handed out over the course of the opening weekend and in this meeting between Braunschweig and Sandhausen, five players made their first competitive start. For the hosts, they gave Phil Ofosu-Ayeh, Patrick Schönfeld and Adam Matuszczyk starts, while for Sandhausen they handed out debuts to Jakub Kosecki and Philipp Klingmann.

Braunschweig begin well

The opening twenty minutes didn't produce many chances as Sandhausen were tactically spot on and defended well, as they frustrated Braunschweig with the lack of space. Unfortunately their attacking play needed some work as they often left Aziz Bouhaddouz unsupported.

Braunschweig dominated the early stages of the game. However they, perhaps, should have been trailing just before the 20 minute mark. Some lovely play resulted in Klingmann being brought down by the foot of Marcel Correia, fortunately the referee decided to wave play on.

That moment seemed to give Sandhausen a lift and they started to come out on top, but they quickly found themselves going behind. A quick counter attack saw Mirko Boland play the ball down the line into Jan Hochscheidt's path, who cut inside with pace and left Tim Kister on the floor. Hochscheidt, from a tight angle, managed to guide his shot past Marco Knaller and into the far bottom corner.

Sandhausen turn things around

Sandhausen bounced back instantly. Two minutes later Leart Paqarada whipped in a long range free-kick and Florian Hübner drifted into the six yard box unmarked and headed into the bottom corner.

With his team trialling, Patrick Schönfeld had space to try his luck from range and it almost paid off as Knaller made a fantastic save to deny the low effort and a debut goal.

A few minutes before half time Sandhausen grabbed the lead. A defensive header came out to the free Andrew Wooten, who produced a lovely roll to the side to avoid a challenge and fire a great shot into the top left corner.

Joseph Baffo is the latest player to sign for Braunschweig.
Joseph Baffo is the latest player to sign for Braunschweig.

During the break Braunschweig announced the signing of Swedish centre-back Joseph Baffo - the youngster has been signed from Halmstads BK.

Chances weren't coming often in this game as Sandhausen continued to defend well and look for the counter attack. Braunschweig were left frustrated and after the hour mark Sandhausen increased their lead. It was very similar to the away side's first goal; Boland was penalised for a handball and Paqaeada's freekick was sent deep into the box, with Bouhaddouz there to head in past Rafal Gikiewicz.

Bouhaddouz had a good chance to make it 4-1 however he couldn't guide the ball past Gikiewicz after being played through, the Braunschweig 'keeper made a good stop.

Sandhausen hold on for three points

With five minutes remaining and time running out Boland had a go from range. His low powerful effort was spilled by Knaller and, luckily for the guests, he managed to pounce on the loose ball before Julius Düker.

This was not how Braunschweig pictured their first game of the new season with Sandhausen surprising everyone and comfortably defeating their hosts. It was a deserved victory and only time will tell if Sandhausen will continue to raise eyebrows or meet expectations of relegation battlers. Braunschweig showed a couple of glimpses of quality, however they need plenty of improvement if they are to match their aim of promotion.

Things don't get easier for Braunschweig as next week they travel to a Kaiserslautern side that were very impressive against MSV Duisburg on Friday night. As for Sandhausen, they'll be hoping to show this wasn't a one off performance as they take on a much improved Union Berlin side.

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