1860 Munich earned a much-needed win in the Bavarian derby against Würzburger Kickers, whose dire run in the 2. Bundesliga continued.

Abdoulayre Ba and Michael Liendl scored second half goals for the Lions, although Würzburg pulled one back in stoppage time through Peter Kurzweg.

The result puts five points between 1860 and the bottom three, and just a point behind the Kickers, who remain winless in 2017.

Bavarian sides looking to arrest bad runs

Both teams came into the game in poor form. Despite a decent start under Vítor Pereira, 1860 had lost their previous three games and were still only three points ahead of the relegation play-off spot. Würzburg had a little more leeway but had won just once in 12 games, with five defeats in their last seven.

Pereira had suggested he would stick with an unchanged team again, but in the end he made one alteration from the defeat to Hannover 96, with Florian Neuhaus replacing Kai Bülow.

Meanwhile following their 2-0 defeat against Dyanmo Dresden five days earlier, Bernd Hollerbach made two changes to his team. Kurzweg and Patrick Weilhrauch – both former 1860 youth players – came in for Lukas Fröde and Sebastian Ernst.

Würzburg had beaten their Bavarian rivals in the previous league meeting 2-0, however 1860 won on penalties when the two met in the DFB-Pokal a few weeks’ later. This was the first of three massive games for Hollerback’s men, with Arminia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC coming up after the international break.

Wulnikowski keeps Lions at bay

Würzburg started the more enterprising of the two sides, but they had little to show for it. Stefan Ortega won the ball of Tobias Schröck in an early attack whilst a good chance for Elia Soriano was wasted by a poor touch.

Otherwise both sides looked unsurprisingly tentative given their current woes, and struggled to break the other’s defence down.

Stefan Aigner had the first good chance for the hosts halfway through the half, before Robert Wulnikowski made two important saves. Both were attempts from outside the box, with Maximilian Wittek’s strike from the edge of it tipped over by the Würzburg goalkeeper, before he blocked a speculative effort form Sebastian Boenisch.

They couldn’t make any further ground though, with another Wulnikowski save from Felix Uduokhai, although worrying for the visitors the 39-year-old would limp off at the break after an awkward landing.

They almost scored themselves before half time, however Soriano’s shot ended up being blocked by the back of his own man Kurzweg.

Liendl makes a difference from the bench

Wulnikowski was unable to return after half-time, with Jörg Siebenhandl replacing him, and Liendl came on for the Lions in place of Romuald Lacazette to make his 100th appearance for the club.

Ivica Olic would roll back the years early in the second half, with a quick charge down the pitch, but with Aigner waiting in the centre he chose to shoot, and hit the side netting.

Little else of note happened before they would finally break the deadlock. It was set up by the substitute Liendl, with his cross from the right headed in by Ba, who didn’t need to do much to outjump the two Würzburg defenders in front of him.

Würzburg had chances to level soon after. A ball across from Valdet Rama fell to Soriano, who with something of a scorpion quick tried, and failed, to get round Ortega without it going wide. Soriano himself then crossed to Schröck who was in an excellent position, but he couldn’t bring the ball under control and the chance went.

They would regret those misses. Aigner won 1860 a penalty after his charge into the box was brought to an end as Kurzweg fell into him. Liendl’s spot kick didn’t have a lot of power as it went in on the right side of the post, but Siebenhandl went the wrong way so could do nothing about it.

In the closing stages Aigner was denied by a save by Siebenhandl, before Würzburg scored what would only be a consolation. A good ball from Rama found Kurzweg, who slotted the ball through Ortega, but the referee gave them no time for a dramatic equaliser.

VAVEL Logo
About the author