Heidenheim continues their excellent start to the 2015/16 campaign as they defeated struggling Fortuna Düsseldorf by a score of 1-0 in front of their ruckus home supporters at the Voith-Arena.
The hosts, 1. FC Heidenheim, were the more dominant of the two sides in the opening forty-five minutes. In front of their noisy home supporters, they moved the ball well down the middle of the pitch and utilizaed the flanks to some success as well.
Heidenheim dominate opening half, but no goals
Their first opportunity came with eleven minutes off the clock as Sebastian Griesbeck received the ball on the left side of the box following a dead-ball situation. He took on touch to bring the ball onto his prefereed left foot, unfortunately, his shot was stopped very well by Michael Rensing.
Kevin Kraus found him self in acres of space inside the area off of a free kick. Unfortunately for the 23-year-old, he was quite a bit offside and, despite the ball going into he back of the net, was spotted by the assistant referee.
Düsseldorf finally got their first chance of the evening in the 22nd minute, following some fantastic passing to maintain possession of the ball. The move was eventually brought wide where Sercan Sararer got his shot stopped by Jan Zimmermann well as he cut down the angle.
After the 25th minute, the hosts really started picking up their play after a little spell of possession. A header from Greisbeck goes wide and to the right of the goal.
Perhaps the best chance of the half never fully developed into a good goal scoring opportunity, but it was the build up that was most impressive from the home club. With less than then minutes to go in the half, the ball was worked from one side of the pitch all the way down towards the byline before it was thwarted away to safety.
HT: Heidenheim 0-0 Fortuna Düsseldorf
In a half that saw plenty of opportunities from the hosts to go in front, there was just a little lack in quality in the final third of the pitch and for that, the halftime score was the same as it was when the whistle first blew.
The start of the second half was controlled by the visitors who looked miles better than they did in the opening 45 minutes. Michael Liendl freed up a bit of space for himself on the edge of the are with just five minutes gone in the half. His curling effort was a good one, however, he just could not bring his shot down as it missed a little over the far top corner.
Then just two minutes later, Adam Bodzek hit his shot across the frame of the goal, missing inches wide of the right post. This was the best chance Fortuna had to break the scoring open.
Hosts find a breakthrough
Frank Schmidt's side finally found the back of the net and it came off of set piece, where they had been so dangerous all night long. Marc Schnatterer originally swung in the corner and the ball was cleared away -- but not completely. Schnatterer received the ball again and found big Mathias Wittek. The central defender lifted the ball up and over the goal keeper, whether he meant it or not, into the back of the net.
This result leaves Heidenheim in a tie for first place with the rest of the matches still to be played this weeked, but it is a great place to be early in the season. On the other hand, this was a bad result for Fortuna because they are four positions from the basement of the table.