Goals from Fabian Kalig, Dimitrij Nazarov and Pascal Köpke in a devastating 18-minute spell saw Erzgebirge Aue comfortably beat Würzburger Kickers. Patrick Weihrauch's stunner proved to be mere consolation as a 3-1 defeat stretched their winless run to 14 games.
Team news
Following their hard-fought 2-2 draw against Hannover 96 last weekend, Domenico Tedesco was keen to carry on their excellent run of form. He had Louis Samson back from suspension but lost Sebastian Hertner to a fifth yellow card. Fabio Kaufmann came in for Philipp Riese in the only other change.
As for Bernd Hollerbach's side, another lead slipped late on to draw 1-1 with 1. FC Nürnberg. David Pisot was booked and had to sit out, and Daniel Nagy dropped to the bench as Tobias Schröck and Emmanuel Taffertshofer returned from suspension to start.
Aue start sends Würzburg into a spin
In a game where the Kickers really needed to show defensive resolve from the start, it was sorely lacking as the hosts grabbed a two-goal lead within the opening 10 minutes.
The first came through Kalig, and the defender was fortunate to find himself in the ideal position to open the scoring. Mario Kvesic's free-kick from all of 40 yards clattered off the bar, with Kalig on hand to find the back of the net. The second came after Peter Kurzweg felled Calogero Rizzuto, leaving Nazarov free to finish from the spot.
Aue's packed crowd could hardly believe what they'd seen in the first 10 minutes, let alone the third that followed eight minutes later. A lovely exchange in midfield eventually saw Christian Tiffert spring Köpke through on goal was a fantastic outside-of-the-foot pass. The young forward ran through on goal, stood up his defender and slotted home.
The remainder of the half produced very little, especially for Würzburg. They tried to probe down the right and left wing, with Valdet Rama and Nejmeddin Daghfous, but found it difficult to produce anything meaningful in terms of crosses. Things also became quite physical, with the visitors keen to impose themselves before the break.
Weihrauch strikes, but FWK can't spark
Half-time brought fresh legs, once the two teams eventually walked around the currently building site that is the unfinished half of Aue's ground. The physicality remained the same, however, and Kaufmann fell foul to the pace and had to be brought off. It was a huge shame for the wing-back, who had been excellent up until that point.
Weihrauch was brought off the bench at the same time as Philipp Riese replaced Kaufmann, and had a huge impact moments later. The former Bayern Munich youngster exchanged passes with Lukas Fröde in the middle before driving towards goal and then curling a superb shot into the far top corner.
There were very few chances after that goal, aside from Fröde's free-kick that was pushed clear by Martin Männel and volleyed over by Elia Soriano. The win takes Aue above the Kickers and into 13th, while the visitors sit just a point and two places above automatic relegation.