2. Bundesliga: Holstein Kiel resurrect survival bid over Fortuna Düsseldorf
2. Bundesliga: Holstein Kiel resurrect survival bid over Fortuna Düsseldorf Both coaches were forced to make early substitutions with injuries to John Tolkin and Christian Rasmussen. The Dane attacker had the game’s first chance blocked by Timon Weiner in the third minute before being replaced by Marin Ljubicic.
The hosts continued to fashion the better chances, while the referee waved away a couple of half-hearted penalty-kick shouts. Kiel’s solitary attempt came from Umut Tohumcu just before the half-time break. However, they took the lead early after the break as Phil Harres had the easiest task of a simple tap-in following a decent linkup play by Lasse Rosenboom and Adrián Kaprálik down the right flank.
There was more bad news for Fortuna as Luca Raimund and Florent Muslija had to be substituted due to injury concerns. Nonetheless, Markus Anfang’s side turned up the gear around the 70th minute. Cedric Itten netted his 12th goal of the season to equalize before hitting the woodwork four minutes later.
Yet, Kiel once again scored against the run of the play as Ivan Nekic beat Florian Kastenmeier with a first-time finish from Tohumcu’s delivery. Düsseldorf’s best chance for an equalizer came in injury-time with a direct free-kick, but Itten saw both his initial attempt and the rebound blocked by Kiel’s defense. The Swiss striker also had the game's last two half-chances with weak headers.
Tim Walter’s side recorded back-to-back wins on their travels to ease their relegation concerns. Kiel have now gone over Anfang’s side in the standings as they climbed to 11th place. The hosts could see the gap between them and bottom-placed Preußen Münster reduced to a single point if the latter beat Greuther Fürth tomorrow.