Goals from Christoph Hemlein and Sebastian Schuppan ensured yet another win for Carsten Rump as interim boss, as Arminia Bielefeld beat 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2-0.
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Rump was back in interim charge for the second time this season after Jürgen Kramny was sacked as head coach. Keen to end a five-game winless streak, he made three changes to the side that lost in Nürnberg. Manuel Junglas, Sebastian Schuppan and Kevin Staude replaced Reinhold Yabo, Julian Börner and Andreas Voglsammer.
Norbert Meier's side had drawn 1-1 against 1. FC Heidenheim last weekend and continued to look ever more stable under his stewardship. He opted for three alterations also, bringing in Ewerton, Jacques Zoua and Marcel Gaus to a more attacking set up in place of Patrick Ziegler, Marlon Frey and Osayamen Osawe.
Pollersbeck in incredible form
Much like his first spell as head coach, Rump had his side fired up from the start. They had two good, early chances to take the lead but couldn't convert either. A long ball over the top found Fabian Klos racing through, though his effort was parried by Julian Pollersbeck. Moments later, Florian Hartherz failed to find the target with his header.
The game was surprisingly open given the position of Arminia and how tight Kaiserslautern usually are in defence. Klos was influential in creating plenty of chances, one of which saw Pollersbeck make a simply stunning stop to claw away Hartherz's 25-yard curler from the top corner.
At the other end, the Red Devils were not without chances of their own. Two efforts from distance, notably that of Daniel Halfar flew just past the worried Daniel Davari's left-hand post. Robert Glatzel, the man who had seemingly solved FCK's goalscoring issues, was denied by the Iranian stopper with a shovelled save to clear the ball to safety.
Glatzel also had a strong run and shot that was off target, but that wasn't before Pollersbeck once more showed his class. A wonderful low cut-back from Schuppan picked out the run of Staude, only for his perfectly-placed daisy-cutter to be pulled away by Pollersbeck. The 'keeper was still prone when he denied Christoph Hemlein's close-range follow up. The half-time whistle was welcome relief for the young stopper.
Hemlein and Schuppan find a way through
Pollersbeck's resistence was impressive, but so was the persistence of Bielefeld. Just two minutes into the second half and the hosts finally got themselves into the lead. Hartherz's cross found Brian Behrendt at the back post and the centre-back fired the ball across goal, where Hemlein was on hand to poke home from just four yards out.
The hosts maintained their pressure and continued to test Pollersbeck. After Schuppan had fired wide, his free-kick saw Klos pull away at the back post and thunder a half-volley towards goal. Somehow, Pollersbeck managed to turn the ball onto the outside of the post and behind for a corner.
There were more chances to follow, but Rump's side were never really under threat in the second half; the early goal had knocked the stuffing out of Kaiserslautern. Any doubts over the result were quelled with 15 minutes to go, as a fine delivery from Tom Schütz saw Schuppan head home. Slightly offside, the jubilant home fans weren't concerned.
A late Ewerton header provided no issue for Davari, who had been a spectator in the second half. The win took Bielefeld into 16th ahead of the other weekend games, just five points behind Kaiserslautern in 14th.