1.FC Nürnberg captain Jan Polak scores 86th minute winner to cancel out Smail Morabit's outrageous chip.
Hosts Nürnberg went into the game today on the back of an unbelievable opening day defeat to recently relegated Freiburg.
They went into the game without Dave Bulthuis who was sent off in the 6-3 defeat, making his debut for Nürnberg as one to forget. René Weiler was hoping to get that outrageous loss out of his teams system and look to push off the foot of the table against a high-flying FC Heidenheim.
Early doors in the 2.Bundesliga season and the Heidenheim team were flying – already in the new season – however they only just managed to scrape past 1860 Munich thanks to a Kevin Kraus winner four minutes from time.
They entered tonight’s game with a clean bill of health however, it was their away form which let them down last season only winning four of their seventeen trips.
A lightning paced 20 minutes got us started. Both sides going out all guns blazing, end to end football from either side which had the fans on the end of their seats and the Nürnberg ultras biting their nails.
High pressure start from 1. FC Nürnburg
The hosts got off to a flyer. Veteran Czech Polak had the opening chance of the game for der Altmeister, the Nürnberg captain fluffed his lines just two minutes into the game following Guido Burgstaller’s nod back across goal but the ball fell back to winger but he neither could keep his header down and the visitors breathed a sigh of relief.
Their rest break was short lived as Weiler’s side's onslaught continued, striker Danny Blum was dragged out to the wing but he skillfully made his way onto his left foot and he was brilliantly pushed out by Jan Zimmermann.
The first 10 minutes were dominated by the hosts, they rarely found their way into the Heideinheim box but they tested their opponents with venomous shots, Ondrej Petrak tried catching out the torwart but Zimmermann was alert to the danger and pushed the centre back’s shot away.
Hosts took the lead through Danny Blum
After just 13 minutes the breakthrough came thanks to a cheeky flick by Blum. Icelandic Rúrik Gíslason disposed Robert Strauß, he sensed where his team mate was, fired the ball across goal and Blum did the rest shrugging off his marker and back heeling into the empty net.
The opening goal was the wake up call Heidenheim needed – the Voitin-Arena faithful were hoping for an improvement to last seasons eighth placed finish after they made the leap from 3.Liga the previous season – Arne Feick burst down the wing, pulling the ball back to Robert Leipertz who forced Thorsten Kirschbaum into a diving save, forcing the 28-year old to concede a corner.
The duo linked up once again, Leipertz heading the ball into the ground and the ball found its way into the top corning bringing the equalising goal for Heideinheim four minutes after the opening goal.
The threat of Heidenheim wasn’t going away, Feick was looking the architect for Frank Schmidt’s side, a flurry of chances came his side’s way and by the end of the spell he was on his knees. Mathias Wittek forced Kirschbaum into making a superb save, then from the playing following Wittek’s chance Morabit smashed his shot over the bar.
Nürnberg fought back after a tremendous spell of play from the visitors. Hanno Behrens was left red-faced after he didn’t quite get the contact he intended on getting as he squandered a goalscoring opportunity shortly after the 26 minute mark. Then, Blum couldn’t quite believe his misfortune after Zimmermann pulled of not one, but two magnificent saves seconds within themselves.
The next 20 minutes was a spell of great midfield play from both sides, which neither could breakthrough. However the hosts had the greater of the chances, Burgstaller found himself in space, Blum was in the middle but Burgstalller elected to shoot and Zimmermann saved and held with ease.
Nürnburg regain lead heading into half time
Nürnberg eventually broke through the wall – that was Zimmerman, thanks to an own goal on the stroke of half time – Niklas Stark brilliantly disposed Marc Schnatterer who burst into the space laying it off to Burgstaller, who shrugged off Sebastian Griesbeck. Burgstaller ran and ran, he embarrassed Strauß literally bulldozing past the full back, Burgstaller learnt from his mistake, took Zimmerman out of the game and looked to find Blum but just as he was about to tap in until Leipertz came steam rolling through and went from scoring from goal to the other poking the ball into his own net.
The Heideinheim manager couldn’t quite believe what he had seen, after seeing his side fluff multiple chances to then going behind in the space of fifteen minutes.
But the excitement for the half wasn’t over yet, Norman Theuerkauf slid Daniel Frauen in between the Nürnberg defence but the 28-year old striker blazed over with the managers frustration evident as he turned away from the play screaming at his bench, throwing his arms around in anger.
The excitement was over for the half after a fiercely fought out first half at the Stadion Nürnberg. It was too close to call who was going to get the next goal in a evenly matched up contest.
The second half didn’t start off as ferociously as the first half but as it went on the game started to get back into how it was before the half time interval.
Just a minute before the hour mark, the visitors levelled through a piece of brilliance from Morabit. The number nine skillfully broke past his man and cheekily dinked the ball over Kirschbaum from the tightest angle. Heidenheim kept on pushing for the fifth goal of the game but it came to no avail, Wittek unleashed an unbelievable strike from inside the Nürnberg area only to be denied by the woodwork.
A new lease of life came into the Nürnberg players, as prior to the equaliser they looked lifeless. Alessandro Schöpf tried beating Zimmerman at the near post but the only part of the net the Austrian could find was the side netting. They kept piling pressure on the opposition. Behrens misfortune in front of goal continued as Blum’s cross was headed over the bar by the attacker.
Heidenheim came back knocking on the door, Kraus headed Feick’s corner back across goal but he failed to get his shot on target following heavy marking from the tight man marking from Weiler’s side.
Late strike seals victory for Nürnburg
Four minutes from time, Polak the captain was the saviour, showing his team mates how its done. Niclas Füllkrug burst down the near side, his cross was deflected straight to Polak who chested it down and poked it into the bottom corner, and Zimmermann could only get a hand to it and that was enough to seal the three points for Nürnberg in front of 24,000 fans.