The Fritz-Walter-Stadion played host to a drab goalless encounter between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Arminia Bielefeld.
Both sides had gone into the game occupying the 2. Bundesliga bottom two, but struggled to create much entertainment, with not even Marcel Gaus’s sending off twenty minutes from the end making much of a difference.
The result though was enough to pull both sides ahead of FC St. Pauli in the table, who now sit bottom.
Plenty of changes for basement battle
This was a battle between the two sides who started the day in in the bottom two. Kaiserslautern’s blight is the bigger surprise, with just one win under Tayfun Korkut. Bielefeld, also under a new manager in Rüdiger Rehm, were without a win, having drawn four but lost three of their first seven games.
After a morale boosting win against Dynamo Dresden, Kaiserslautern then lost 3-0 with 1. FC Heidenheim last weekend, with Korkut changing three of his starting line-up for this game, bringing in Christoph Moritz, Robin Koch and Osayamen Osawe. Jacques Zoua was amongst those to miss out, due to a hamstring injury.
Bielefeld made four changes from a 3-1 defeat to 1. FC Nürnberg, with one enforced following Sebastian Schuppan’s sending off in that game. Julian Börner, Brian Behrendt, Manuel Junglas and Florian Hartherz all came in.
Two sides scrap out goaless first half
The first half was a balanced contest, with neither side able to grab the initiative. Ten minutes into the game and Kaiserslautern had the first golden opportunity to score. A short free-kick was put into the box by Alexander Ring, which Moritz chested down and Zoltan Stieber struck towards goal. It was so close to going in, but only hit the post.
By then, Andreas Voglsammer had shot wide from distance for Bielefeld, but captain Fabian Klos had an even better chance to score from a corner. Malcolm Cacutalua headed the ball on, and Klos's own header at the post was only just wide.
Osawe then had another great chance for Kaiserslautern. Play through by Moritz, he passed through two defenders but Wolfgang Hesl blocked his shot with his feet. Lukas Görtler then had a shot deflected out, with Patrick Ziegler heading the following corner over.
Before the break, Bielefeld came close with successive corner. Junglas’s header was deflected over, before he couldn’t get a shot away from the second. He went down, with possible contact from Osawe, but there wasn’t a case for a penalty.
Gaus sending off has no effect on result
Korkut clearly felt something needed to change at half-time, bringing on Naser Aliji and Sebastian Kerk for Ring and Görtler. It has little effect though, with few chances for either side after the break.
A powerful header from Klos from a Bielefeld wasn’t quite enough to beat goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck, whilst Tim Heubach and Koch combined for what would havbe been an unconventional goal, with Koch’s high back heal going wide.
A slip just outside the box from Cacutalua then presented an excellent chance for Osawe to finally break the deadlock, but Hesl would deny him.
Then Stieber appeared to be held back by Börner, before shooting over the bar. Gaus was convinced it was a penalty, and made his feelings known to the referee but his complaints went too far and he was duly punished with a second yellow card.
If Bielefeld now had the advantage, they didn’t make the most of it. They had a spate of late chances, with Klos and Behrendt off target, but in the end they were forced to play out a fifth draw of the season. For the hosts, another disappointing result and performance, which will surely now leave Korkut’s job in the spotlight going into the international break.