Dynamo Dresden consolidated fifth spot in the 2. Bundesliga with a comfortable 2-0 victory over SV Sandhausen, who are now without a win in six matches.

Erich Berko more than justified Uwe Neuhaus’s decision to recall him to the side with a goal in the first half, before setting up Philip Heise for the second late on.

As a result they pass the 40-points mark, although with five points between them and Hannover 96 in fourth, an unlikely promotion challenge looks a little way off.

Dresden hoping to end poor run at home

Dresden, in fifth spot, are currently on course for a best-ever season in the 2. Bundesliga, having never finished higher than eighth. However despite two wins in their last three, they hadn’t won at home since November.

Looking to put that right, as well as get revenge for the 2-0 defeat at Sandhausen earlier in the season, Neuhaus recalled Florian Ballas and Berko to the starting line-up, with Giuliano Modica and Marvin Stefaniak dropping to the bench from the team that started in the win at Würzburger Kickers.

Kenan Kocak was unable to restore top scorer Andrew Wooten to his starting line-up due to an Achilles problems, but still made three changes from the draw last weekend against SpVgg Greuther Fürth as they looked for a first win in six games.

Tim Knipping, Manuel Stiefler and Moritz Kuhn, despite his stunning free-kick against Fürth, all dropped out with Tim Kister, Korbinian Vollmann and the fit-again Thomas Pledl brought in. Skipper Stefan Kulovits was making his 100th appearance in the second tier for Sandhausen.

Berko justifies his recall with the opening goal

The hosts started the better of the two sides, and had a good chance early from a Niklas Kreuzer free-kick. Marco Hartmann met it in the header, but couldn’t direct the ball on goal and the opportunity slipped by.

Despite a quiet start Sandhausen had a golden chance to take the lead 25 minutes in. A clever ball from Lucas Höler put Vollmann one-on-one with Schwäbe. However the German under-21 goalkeeper made a good save to deny him.

That save was all the more important when his side took the lead soon after. After a one-two with Heise, Andreas Lambertz tried to put the ball in the box. It was blocked by Daniel Gordon, but fell straight into the path of Berko, who put it into the top corner for his second goal of the season.

Sandhausen had a chance to equalise soon after, but Schwäbe made a good save to keep out a free-kick from Pledl. For Dresden, Aias Aosman shot wide before another header from an unmarked Hartmann was straight at Marco Kneller, who had an easy take.

Heise – with help from Kister – makes game safe for Dresden

The second half was a much lower key affair. Aosman put a good chance wide early in the half for Dresden, after good football from Berko and Niklas Hauptmann, however Sandhausen otherwise kept their forward players quiet.

They had few opportunities themselves to draw Dresden back level. Julian-Maurice Derstroff thought he had won a free-kick on the edge of the box at one point, however the referee adjudged that Hartmann hadn’t made contact and Derstroff was booked for diving.

As the half wore on Dresden did start to push for another goal. Hartmann headed wide yet again from a corner, but Heise would get the second, with a little help after being set up by Berko. He had a tight angle to negotiate with his shot past Knaller if he was even shooting, and it took a big deflection off Kister for the ball to end up in the net.

That was all the needed to make sure of the three points to end their winless run at the DDV-Stadion and strengthen their position in the table. Sandhausen drop to ninth.

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