SV Sandhausen earned three important points in the relegation battle following their 4-0 victory over neighbours, Karlsruher SC thanks to a brace from Richie Sukuta-Pasu, a strike from Thomas Pledl and a goal from Jakub Kosecki.
Team news
Sandhausen head coach, Kenan Kocak made four changes following their 1-1 draw at 1860 Munich as Markus Karl, Damian Roßbach, Manuel Stiefler and Sukuta-Pasu came into the side. They replaced Daniel Gordon (injured), Daniel Lukasik (bench), Tim Kister and Tim Knipping (both suspended).
KSC's new man at the helm, Marc-Patrick Meister also opted for four alterations after their 0-1 defeat at home to 1. FC Heidenheim. Hiroki Yamada, Charalampos Mavrias, Erwin Hoffer and Stefan Mugosa replaced Franck Kom, Enrico Valentini, Florian Kamberi and Fabian Reese.
KSC began strong, Sandhausen took over
Surprisingly, the visitors took immediate control over the game. Karlsruhe enjoyed more possession and combined well along the wings. Five minutes in, Phillip Klingmann brought down Yann Rolim just in front of the penalty area. Erwin Hoffer could have scored but Guido Winkmann did not play the advantage and gave the free-kick instead. Gatean Krebs' effort went wide.
In the 16th minute, Rolim tried it with a great solo through the rows of Sandhausen defenders. The Brazilian's shot just missed the target, though. The following attack saw Sandhausen take the lead after a huge mistake from KSC captain, Dirk Orlishausen. Sukuta-Pasu made use of Orlishausen's mistake and found the back of the empty net.
The hosts kept up their pressure and went in search of a second goal. Thomas Pledl then double Sandhausen's lead by winning a one-on-one battle with Orlishausen in the 33rd minute, following a superb pass from team-mate Sukuta-Pasu.
Sandhausen remained the better team in the first half and held a 2-0 lead after the first 45 minutes of the 'little Derby'.
Sukuta-Pasu with a brace, Karlsruhe without reward
The match picked up, in a physical sense, as Winkmann showed quite a number of yellow cards throughout the second half. The flow of the game was gone, and the many interruptions due to fouls made the match less attractive.
In the 51st minute, Sandhausen had a big opportunity to make it 3-0. Orlishausen cleared at the edge of the penalty area against Korbinian Vollmann, Stiefler then fell in the area as Pledl's follow up shot went narrowly wide.
15 minutes later, Sukuta-Pasu finally made it 3-0 as his fine run was crowned with a stunning finish, earning his second goal of the afternoon in style.
Towards the final minutes, Karlsruhe had more possession, but were not able to create any danger in front of the opponents' goal. Nevertheless, in the 90th minute, Kosecki tapped in a cross from Pledl to make it a superb 4-0 victory over Karlsruhe.
Sandhausen climb up to the ninth place, whereas bottom of the league Karlsruhe are hoping for nothing less than a miracle to stay up.