Two quick fire first half goals from Rouwen Hennings and Reinhold Yabo was followed in the 2nd half with another goal from Hennings and a penalty from Dima Nazarov before Mohamed Aoudia got his side a consolation goal as the home side end their Hinrunde on a high.
KSC were looking to get back on track today after their 2-0 midweek loss away to Union Berlin ended a 6 game unbeaten run that had seen them rise to 2nd. The loss allowed FC Kaiserslautern to regain 2nd position after they won and it also allowed FC Ingolstadt to open up a 7-point gap at the top. Head coach Markus Kauczinski decided 2 changes were needed so Jan Mauersberger and Ilijan Mitsanski were replaced Manuel Gulde and Nazarov.
Their opponents for tonight’s game picked up a vital win during the week against mid-table FC Heidenheim with Mario Engels and Zlatko Dedič grabbing the goals for Brenno Möhlmann’s side. This came after 2 consecutive defeats that had seen FSV drawn back into the relegation dogfight but the victory against Heidenheim saw them put 5 points between them and the relegation playoff spot. Möhlmann decided no changes were needed for this evening’s game.
Alexander Bittroff went down injured inside the first 60 seconds for FSV after his keeper, Patric Klandt, missed his clearance completely and when both Klandt and Bittroff went for the ball at the second attempt the keeper landed on the back of Bittroff’s foot causing him a great deal of discomfort. KSC’s first chance came in the 5th minute when Enrico Valentini’s costless-kick found it’s way into the 6-yard box but was just ahead of the sliding Daniel Gordon.
10 minutes layer they took the lead thanks to Hennings, the match winner last weekend against 1860 Munich. Jonas Meffert’s pass found Hennings in space just outside the box and the 27-year old was allowed the time to spin on the edge of the box before unleashing a pile driver into the top left corner of Klandt’s goal.
They didn’t have to wait long to double their lead which came as a result of a ferocious counter attack following a dangerous costless kick for FSV. The set piece was intercepted and controlled by Philipp Max who then sent the ball to Manuel Torres. The Spaniard ran the ball from inside his own half to just outside the FSV box and as Klandt came out to close him down Torres tried to round him but the keeper recovered and blocked his shot. Unfortunately for Klandt the rebound fell to Yabo who had pretty much an open goal to aim at and made no mistake sending it into the bottom corner.
Last weekend’s star man Hiroki Yamada slowly started to make his way into the game as the half wore on, he had a chance in the 27th minute when he was on the left hand side and beat his man before shooting straight at Klandt who easily saved his effort. The home side then had 3 efforts thwarted in quick succession starting with Yabo hitting the post with a curled effort from outside the box.
The ball bounced back off the post and was worked to Nazarov who forced a great save from Klandt before Torres put his effort just wide. This was the last action of what had been a very entertaining half.
The first action of the second 45 saw Joan Oumari booked for what seemed a perfectly acceptable challenge in the 48th minute of the game. FSV defender Tom Beugelsdijk then had a 3-minute period to forget. A long ball down the line from Yamada saw him to get the ball under pressure from Hennings, which caused him to under hit his back pass. Hennings chased after it and got to it at the same time as Klandt, but the goalkeeper was half-hearted in his challenge for the ball allowing Hennings to round him and slot home into an empty net.
Beugelsdijk was then book 2 minutes later for a blatant foul on Yabo and from the resulting costless-kick, delivered by Valentini, the ball sailed across the 6-yard box, just ahead of Meffert. Just over 10 minutes after this Yamada won a costless kick in the corner of the pitch that would turn out to have consequences for FSV.
The initial costless-kick was headed back in the direction that it came from and fell to Hennings just inside the box and as he spun Dedič placed a hand on his shoulder after which Hennings fell down and a penalty was awarded somewhat dubiously. Nazarov stepped up and fired home sending Klandt the wrong way as he put his side 4-0 up in the match. FSV did grab themselves a slick consolation goal in the 72nd minute when Mario Engels’ cross found substitute Aoudia unmarked inside the box and he headed home superbly into the corner of the net.
The final chance of the game fell to Yabo when his effort skimmed the top of the crossbar but apart from that the final stages of the game were a rather dull affair, as FSV seemed to be resigned to their defeat.
