Tolcay Cigerci set up all three goals as SpVgg Greuther Fürth stunned 2. Bundesliga leaders Fortuna Düsseldorf in their first game under new coach Damir Buric.

Serdar Dursun and Marco Caligiuri put Fürth two up at the break, and although Niko Gießelmann pulled one back from the penalty spot, Dursun headed in a third from Cigerci’s cross son after.

Fürth turn the table upside down

This was a first game in charge for Buric following his arrival last weekend from Austrian side FC Admira Wacker Mödling. Fürth had picked up a first point of the season against Dynamo Dresden before then but he made three changes, bringing in Patrick Sontheimer, Levent Aycicek and Cigerci. The league’s bottom side appeared to have a tough test against its top though, with Düsseldorf on a four-match winning streak. Lukas Schmitz replaced Davor Lovren from the team that beat 1. FC Union Berlin last week.

Previous form went out of the window here. The visitors tested Fürth early when Benito Raman dispossessed Caligiuri in the box, but it was a tame shot wide. However after an otherwise quiet start to the half, Fürth began to impose themselves on the game.

Jurgen Gjasula had a strike deflect of a defender, before Cigerci’s shot from outside the box went just over Raphael Wolf’s crossbar. Julian Green then had a couple of efforts from his station on the left – both went wide but the first probably had Wolf beaten if he had directed it the right side of the post.

It wasn’t too much surprise when the Shamrocks did take the lead. Following some good build-up play, two of the three men brought into the team, Sontheimer and Cigerci, played their part to seek out Dursun, who from the right struck past Wolf to make it 1-0.

Sontheimer and Khaled Narey both just missed out on making to 2-0 with their chances after the opener, but Caligiuri made no mistake. A corner was initially cleared by the guests but the ball found its way to Cigerci, who bagged another assist as his cross found the head of the defender. Narey then had appeals for a penalty rightfully denied just before the break, but it only went to underline their dominance on the game by this stage.

Serdar Dursun strikes the ball. | Photo: Bundesliga.
Serdar Dursun strikes the ball. | Photo: Bundesliga.

Dursun header quickly halts Düsseldorf fightback

Fürth should have made it 3-0 shortly after the break. Sontheimer played the ball through to Cigerci, who cleverly got it over Wolf and into the back of the net. The goal was disallowed for offside, even though Cigerci was clearly in an onside position.

There was more frustration for them when Düsseldorf were awarded a soft penalty. Marcel Sobottka, charging forward, appeared to be brought down by Balázs Megyeri, yet there appeared to be minimal contact from the goalkeeper. Nevertheless, Gießelmann stepped up against the club he left in the summer and converted to bring his new side back into the game.

There weren’t back in it for long. Cigerci bagged his third assist of the game, and his fourth in two matches, with a clever cross to the far post. Dursun was there, and headed it in past Wolf to restore his side’s two-goal advantage.

Düsseldorf rarely looked like make any more of a contest of this game, whilst Fürth could easily have had a fourth. Green and Dursun had headers saved by Wolf, but it was the latter that was really close, with the keeper only able to force the ball off the bar, and he was lucky it only fell to Sontheimer, whose rebound effort he could keep out, rather than into his net.

All in all though, it was an impressive way to bag their first three points of the season, even if they were only enough to move them above 1. FC Kaiserslautern at the bottom. Düsseldorf are beaten for the first time this season, with the change of goal difference enough to see Holstein Kiel overtake them at the top. Eintracht Braunschweig remain the only unbeaten team in the league.

Round-Up: Darmstadt have too much for Bielefeld in thriller

Düsseldorf have in fact dropped to third after SV Darmstadt 98 won a thriller against Arminia Bielefeld. Bielefeld led 2-1 at the break through Andreas Voglsammer and Fabian Klos goals, with Kevin Großkreutz having scored an equaliser in between. The hosts stormed ahead after the break, with Immanuel Höhn levelling again before Großkreutz and Artur Sobiech struck. Sören Brandy added a consolation for Bielefeld in stoppage time.

Fürth could have overtaken 1. FC Heidenheim to escape the bottom two, however they came from behind to beat VfL Bochum. Robert Glatzel brought them level just minutes after Robbie Kruse had given his side the lead. Mathias Wittek struck in the second half to earn Heidenheim a second win of the campaign.

Dresden also won on Sunday afternoon. Goals from Sascha Horvath and Aias Aosman early in the second half earned them a 2-0 win away at SSV Jahn Regensburg

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