A solitary strike from Onel Hernandez proved the killer blow for Eintracht Braunschweig, as they edged past 10-man SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

Sararer sees red but Braunschweig fail to take chances

The home side began with real purpose and had two great chances to open the scoring inside the first five minutes. Balazs Megyeri was called spectacularly into action by Domi Kumbela's powerful effort, doing superbly well to tip the ball over the bar. Christoffer Nyman also went close, though he couldn't direct Ken Reichel's cross home.

Fürth responded immediately and came back with pressure of their own, something which wasn't reciprocated by the Braunschweig back-line. They afforded Khaled Narey too much time to get his shot off, and were thankful to see it fly narrowly wide. They were also grateful for Jasmin Fejzic's smart stop at the feet of Veton Berisha.

Just when everything was going well, Sercan Sararer succumbed to the 'red mist'. After things didn't go his way in the corner, he proceeded to kick the corner flag out of the ground and Patrick Ittrich had no hesitation in produced the attacker's second yellow card in just eight minutes.

That gave Braunschweig, who were on the back foot, some added impetus and they began to race forward again in a bid to get ahead for the break. Marcel Correia's cross almost looped in before Kumbela couldn't quite direct a free header into the far corner. The half ended with Reichel firing past the post, but all-square.

Hernandez grabs the crucial goal

The second half started as Braunschweig finished the first, hunting that crucial opening goal. Patrick Schönfeld had a huge chance to grab the lead after just a few minutes, but his point-blank header was straight at Megyeri after some excellent work from Nik Omladic out on the right.

Finally, just before the hour mark, the breakthrough finally came. A long ball over the top produced a fine flicked heaeder from Kumbela, straight into the path of his partner in attack, Hernandez. The summer signing duly poked the ball past Megyeri and into the far corner to deservedly open up the scoring.

Schönfeld then had a chance to add to the scoreline soon after as Kumbela was blocked off on his route to goal by Megyeri. Unfortunately for the midfielder it was not his day in front of goal and his spot-kick crashed out off the bar and away to safety. The Hungarian stopper did have to make a super save with his foot from Quirin Moll's deflected drive.

Reichel, who was proving why Torsten Lieberknecht is happy for him to go forward, came closer still when his 25-yard drive screamed narrowly over the crossbar. There would be one final scare but a fantastic reach from Fejzic clawed Robert Zulj's free-kick out of the bottom corner to keep the Lions' remarkable run going.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]