There was a swift come down for 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday afternoon, as they were beaten 3-0 by 1. FC Heidenheim.
Goals from Bard Finne, Timo Beermann and Robert Strauß sealed a comfortable and deserved three points for the home side.
Team news
Frank Schmidt made five changes from the draw against SV Sandhausen as Robin Tim Becker, Martin Rasner, Norman Theuerkauf, Smail Morabit (all benched) and David Atanga (not in the squad) all dropped out of the eleven. That left room for Marc Schatterer, Finne, Ben Halloran, Marcel Titsch-Rivero and Strauß to return.
As for Tayfun Korkut and Kaiserslautern, he opted to name the same side that won against Dynamo Dresden.
Heidenheim get off to flyer and don't let up
Things couldn't have got off to a better start for the hosts, as they took the lead inside the opening two minutes. Schnatterer's through ball was perfectly weighted for Finne to collect and drive at goal, only to see his shot came back off Stipe Vucur's shins. The Norwegian was fortunate that the ball fell kindly and he slotted him the rebound in style.
To their credit, Kaiserslautern didn't let their heads dropped and almost bounced back immediately after some nice play between Zoltan Stieber and Marcel Gaus. The latter was denied well by a sprawling Kevin Müller, before the Heidenheim stopper was called into action again to halt a Jacques Zoua effort while one-on-one.
Those misses were to prove crucial, and the Red Devils were punished as a result. Schatterer was again the creator as he whipped in a 35-yard free-kick to the middle of the box, where Beermann rose highest to power a fantastic header into the ground and past the helpless Julian Pollersbeck to double their advantage.
The hosts then had a very valid penalty appeal turned down by Christof Günsch, as Ben Halloran was tripped by Vucur; for whatever reason, the referee waved play on. There was to be further misery for Korkut's men as a late injury to Zoua forced him off, with Osayamen Osawe his replacement.
Strauß strike seals win
It was more of the same after the restart as Strauß set about getting a goal of his own, but his blocked shot only followed after Alexander Ring crashed Philipp Mwene's header against the upright. Just five minutes later, Tim Kleindienst escaped down the right and delivered a brilliant cross to the near post; Strauß was there, and flicked it in.
With the game now surely over, Heidenheim took the tempo down a notch. That allowed Kaiserslautern back into the game but they still couldn't test Müller, who was largely a spectator in the second period. Lukas Görtler was their main outlet but his headed effort was narrowly over, while shots from various player failed to hit the target.
The remainder of the game failed to spark into life as he Red Devils had seemingly accepted their fate, leaving the Voith-Arena free to celebrate another well-earned win after a tough English week of fixtures. Hiedenheim are now up to second, four points behind Eintracht Braunschweig, while Kaiserslautern have slipped to 16th.