Despite taking the lead through Tim Kleindienst's sweetly-struck opener, 1. FC Heidenheim were held to a 1-1 by Eintracht Braunschweig and Domi Kumbela's header.

Kleindienst opens the scoring

The first half was a really drab affair that had little in the way of any meaningful chances. It looked like the magnitude of the game had got to the two teams who were more than content to keep their shape and build slowly and steadily, rather than forcing the issue and giving their opponent an unnecessary opening on goal.

It was fitting, then, that the only major moment in the opening 45 minutes was the opening goal. Kleindienst tried to chip a pass into the the back post and Ben Halloran, though it was cut out. However, the clearing header fell well for the forward and a clever touch set him up to volley powerfully into the bottom corner past the helpless Jasmin Fejzic.

There would be one negative before the break, however, as Kevin Kraus hobbled off with a nasty injury; Norman Theuerkauf came on in his place.

Second half sees Braunschweig get on terms

Braunschweig began the second half by making a much needed alteration, as Christoffer Nyman was sacrificed to bolster the midfield. Unfortunately for Liebecknecht, that didn't turn their fortunes around and it was the hosts who came closer to scoring. Arne Feick's throw-in was nodded down by John Verhoek, though Kleindiesnt shot over.

Heidenheim had an even better chance just moments later as a deep free-kick from Marc Schnatterer was missed by Fezjic and met by Timo Beermann. He somehow managed to hit the bar from just a few yards out, with Ken Reichel making a superb clearing header to deny Kleindienst an easy second headed goal.

The hosts were struck by another injury blow just after the hour mark as Martin Rasner was called off the bench to replace Beermann; the international break has come at the right time, with all of Frank Schmidt's first choice centre-backs currently out with injury.

With a make-shift defence in play, Braunschweig took full advantage. Onel Hernandez, who had been brought off the bench just moments earlier, did brilliantly well to keep the ball in play on the left before standing up a great ball to the back post. Kumbela came in unmarked and bulleted home a header from close range to level the scores.

The final moments in the match passed without real incident aside from Hernandez's close-range snap-shot that flew narrowly over the bar.