Three goals in 15 second-half minutes fired Fortuna Düsseldorf to victory against Arminia Bielefeld to extend their lead at the top of the 2. Bundesliga to eight points.

They were 2-1 down early in the second half after Tom Schütz‘s excellent free-kick, following first half goals from Julian Börner and Rouwen Hennings.

Marcel Sobottka soon levelled again though, before Adam Bodzek and Benito Raman put them in firm control of the match.

Börner to blame for equaliser after giving Bielefeld the lead

Fortuna took a big leap towards a return to the Bundesliga last weekend with their 2-1 derby victory over MSV Duisburg, with Bielefeld doing them a big favour with a late victory against 1. FC Nürnberg, giving their own unlikely promotion charge another boost. The visitors were unchanged for this game but Düsseldorf made one alteration, with Florian Neuhaus back into the team instead of Andre Hoffmann.

The visitors were marginally on top in the early stages, with Manuel Prietl heading inches over the bar before Andreas Voglsammer struck wide from a corner. They then converted that strong start into a lead halfway through the first 45. Tom Schütz’s free-kick found Börner in the box, with the Bielefeld captain just getting ahead of Raphael Wolf to head home.

Börner though had to take responsibility for the equaliser six minutes later. He was caught in possession by Oliver Fink, who cleanly won the ball, before exchanging passes with Hennings. With both coming forward, the Düsseldorf skipper then set up their frontman for a straightforward finish.

That was practically the first chance they had had, but another slight error from Börner could have led to a second goal. He cleared Takashi Usami’s cross straight to Hennings at the near post, but Stefan Ortega did enough to keep the game all square going into half-time.

Schütz stunner overshadowed by Fortuna recovery

They then came out strongly for the second half, with a foul by Bodzek on Voglsammer giving Schütz another free-kick opportunity. It was a bit closer to goal this time, so he went direct, perfectly placing the ball over the wall and into the back of the net, just past Wolf. If the Düsseldorf goalkeeper had reacted ever so slightly quickly, he might have stopped it, but that shouldn’t take away from the quality of the delivery.

The lead lasted barely longer than the first one though. Usami’s corner eventually landed at the feet of Genki Haraguchi on the far side, with his scuffed shot almost turned in by Heninngs, who was denied by the quick reactions of Ortega. He sent the ball straight to Sobottka though, who stabbed it in without mercy.

That equaliser, and the introduction of Raman, inspired Düsseldorf to find another gear. Ortega had to make a close range shot from the Belgian soon after he came on, before getting a fingertip touch on a Kaan Ayhan free-kick which went over off the bar. He couldn’t keep out Bodzek’s header from within a crowd of bodies from the resulting corner, however, and Fortuna led for the first time.

There seemed no stopping them now and they soon had another. A header from Fink left Hennings and Raman two-on-one with Ortega. Hennings was the one with the ball and wisely laid it off to Raman who was left with a simple finish to make it 4-2.

Hennings missed a couple of opportunities to put the game truly to bed, and with time running out Konstantin Kerschbaumer then strike the post, with Volgsammer somehow managing not to put in the rebound on the goal-line. Neuhaus, who like Raman scored in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, nearly added his name to the scorers as well, but Ortega quickly recovered after the ball went through his legs. 4-2 was the final score.

Friday’s other 2. Bundesliga results

Holstein Kiel 2-1 1. FC Heidenheim (1-0, Schindler 18' (P); 2-0, Kinsombi 39'; 2-1, Verhoek 82')