Freiburg deny Darmstadt

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SV Darmstadt 98 dropped to the foot of the table despite a brave performance against SC Freiburg, with second-half substitute Nils Petersen snatching a win for the hosts from the penalty spot.

SC Freiburg 1-0 SV Darmstadt 98

Goals: 1-0 Petersen (p. 86’)

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Darmstadt started brightly in the Black Forest, with Jerome Gondorf seeing a wicked low drive turned clear by Caglar Söyüncü before Sandro Sirigu struck a cross-cum-shot that sailed narrowly over Alexander Schwolow’s crossbar. The Lilies must have been wondering what they had to do to score when Mario Vrancic let fly from the edge of the area, but his shot sailed narrowly wide and the half-time whistle went with Freiburg much the more relieved party with scores at 0-0.

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Freiburg coach Christian Streich brought last season’s top scorer Nils Petersen on for the final half-hour, and his impact was significant. The former FC Bayern München man had a volley on the turn that was turned around the post by Darmstadt ‘keeper Michael Esser, but he simply refused to be denied, earning the late penalty that he converted – sending Esser the wrong way – to seal a 1-0 win.

Talking point

Darmstadt looked positively rejuvenated under interim coach Ramon Berndroth until the dying embers, and dominated play for large periods against a side who began the day with twice as many points. The Lilies still have a long way to go, but there were shoots of promise at the the Schwarzwald-Stadion.

Match stats

    Petersen’s goal was his fifth of the campaign, meaning he is already halfway to last season’s goal-haul.This was the first meeting between the sides in the Bundesliga.Freiburg have more points on the board after 14 matches (19) than they did in their entire Hinrunde campaigns in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

Line-ups

Freiburg: Schwolow - Kübler (Höfler 46’), Gulde, Söyüncü, Günter - Schuster (c), Frantz - Stenzel, Grifo - Haberer (Petersen 63’) – Niederlechner (Nielsen 90’)

Coach: Christian Streich

Darmstadt: Esser - Fedetskyy, Niemeyer, Sulu (c), Holland (Stroh-Engel) - Vrancic, Gondorf - Sirigu, Rosenthal (Kleinheisler 72’), Heller – Schipplock (Bezjak 81’)

Coach: Ramon Berndroth