Club must go through the mill of relegation

“Now we just have to do a lap of honor.”

Club trainer Jens Keller–

The game couldn’t have started better for the guests. Palikuca had just put his cell phone with the Fürth 1: 0 against Karlsruhe in front of the chairman of the supervisory board, Thomas Grethlein, when the club took the lead. It originated from a co-production of the two defensive midfielders. Johannes Eris’s free-kick flanked Patrick Erras into the net (3rd minute). Erras’ third goal of the season was yet another reason to regret that the Upper Palatinate is now leaving his training club. At first you didn’t want him anymore, now you don’t want him anymore.

The start made to measure inspired the Nuremberg team. Since physical contact with the opponent was literally sought, many commands made it loud on the pitch. The longer the first half lasted, the more Kiel took over the game. There were no gifts for the guests. “We wanted to live up to our responsibilities in the competition,” said Holstein coach Ole Werner. The storks had 64 percent possession of the ball until the break. The club was troubled by fast, forced wing play and sharp crossings. And there were chances to equalize. Lion Lauberbach shot club goalkeeper Christian Mathenia, the rebound got in the face of Kiel and the ball spun next to the Nuremberg goal (18th). Even the slightly deflected low shot by Finn Porath (36th) almost fit.

Latte prevents Geis from leading 2-0

Especially in midfield, the club became too passive, showed the known deficits in speed, but cleared again in the closing phase of the first half. Nikola Dovedan (38.) and the strong Robin Hack (39.) narrowly missed the Kiel goal. Geis almost raised 0: 2 with his soulful free kick to the crossbar (45 ‘), so it was bad luck. So everything remained open during the break, especially since club opponent Karlsruhe had long since equalized to 1-1.

After the change, Kiel was back on the trigger. As so often this season, there was too little from the club. The central defenders Lukas Mühl and Asger Sörensen had the most stressful job, one ball after the other flew freely into the Nuremberg penalty area. In midfield, Geis and the incomprehensibly weak Dovedan no longer had access to the game. When Karlsruhe took the lead in Fürth with a penalty kick, it was clear: nothing was allowed to happen to the club, which had a single counterattack due to Behrens, who was already too tired when shooting (66.). It was less than five minutes before Kiel finally made the overdue compensation. Lauberbach headed a favorably deflected cross heavily in front of Sörensen and over Mathenia to 1: 1 (67.). Supervisory board chairman Grethlein tore his hair because the club was currently in the relegation. Now a goal had to be found – or Greuther Fürth saved the local rival.

In the final phase, Keller brought in five fresh players, including Fabian Schleusener, Adam Zrelak and Mikael Ishak, all of the offensive forces still available. But the time was running out of the club, which had no ideas. In the five-minute stoppage time, Nuremberg threw everything forward and Mathenia also called, but more than a Sörensen header, which the Kiel team scraped from the goal line with no effort, did not jump out. That the Kieler Eberwein and Khelifi both failed at the post and thus missed the victory – for free.