Moritz Kuhn and Serdar Dursun traded goals as SV Sandhausen and SpVgg Greuther Fürth played out an entertaining and hard-fought 1-1 draw.
Team news
Following their 2-2 draw 1. FC Heidenheim last weekend, head coach, Kenan Kocak made three changes that line-up. Leart Paqarada, Richie Sukuta-Pasu and Thomas Pledl all dropped out as Manuel Stiefler, Kuhn and Damian Roßbach earned starting berths.
As for Greuther Fürth, they were keen to continue their winning form after beating 1. FC Nürnberg in the Frankenderby last time out. Nicolai Rapp, Dominik Schad and Veton Berisha were installed into the team following that game with Marcel Franke, Khaled Narey and Mathis Bolly all unavailable.
Kuhn stuns Fürth
After ending their game badly last week, it seemed Sandhausen were still in the same slump. An almost a nightmare start saw Marco Knaller miss-kick his clearance straight to Robert Zulj, and the Austrian acted quickly to play in Berisha but his effort was well blocked. Young Schad was also looking troublesome on the right wing.
Sercan Sararer then rattled the post from 20 yards as his curling effort crept past Knaller and onto the inside of the upright. Unfortunately for the Shamrocks, it bounced clear.
However, the game would turn after the opening 15 minute onslaught with a quite spectacular goal from Kuhn. After Stiefler had been felled 30 yards from goal, the returning midfielder took aim from range and sent a superb curling set-piece past the outstretched arm of Balazs Megyeri.
Things went from bad to worse towards the end of the half as Zulj was forced off through injury, and more good work from Kuhn required a last-ditch tackle to halt his progress.
Dursun levels matters
After the restart, things continued to go the way of the hosts. The goal had totally changed the complexion of the game and Sandhausen were in charge. Kuhn's free-kick abilities continued to trouble Megyeri as he shot narrowly over from a similar position to his goal. Holer then felt he should have had a penalty, yet Timo Gerach waved play on.
However, as the game went on the Shamrocks slowly worked back into a position where they could come forward on a more regular basis. With the defenve under less pressure, Adam Pinter could come forward more and play through balls like the one he set Serdar Dursun free with. Unfortunately for the forward, Knaller made a super stop.
Andrew Wooten wasted an excellent breakaway chance at the death and Sandhausen were made to pay. Niko Gießelmann's free-kick was inch-perfect as Dursun held off Daniel Gordon to bullet a header into the bottom corner and save a point. The result made no change to the table, with both still in seventh and eighth respectively.