After last week’s win over VfB Stuttgart, things returned to normal for SV Wehen Wiesbaden as they were denied by VAR and had to accept defeat to 1. FC Heidenheim.
Tobias Mohr’s first goal for the home side was the difference, with Törlos Knöll having a goal disallowed due to Kevin Müller’s view being obscured by an offside player.
It was though, in the end, a deserved victory for Heidenheim, who remain very much in the 2. Bundesliga promotion race.
The equaliser that wasn’t
The introduction of Mohr and his subsequent winner was crucial for Heidenheim, who keep up the pressure on the top three, particularly Stuttgart and Hamburger SV. The game ultimately though hinged on the decision to disallowed Knöll’s would-be equaliser ten minutes after Mohr’s strike.
Almost from nowhere, his long-range effort had somehow flummoxed the usually-reliable Müller. The goalkeeper’s view was blocked, but one would normally expect better from one of the league’s most consistent shot-stoppers.
VAR came to his rescue though. Manuel Schäffler had been stood in an offside position and was adjudged to have impeded the goalkeeper’s view. After benefiting from a decision last weekend, Wehen returned here to being on the wrong side of the video referee’s intervention.
Ultimately it was the correct decision, and the right result. “Luck was on our side on Sunday, today we were a bit unlucky,” admitted Rüdiger Rehm. “But that’s not why we lost. The reason is that we didn’t play the way we wanted to. “
Absentees don’t impact Wehen stodginess
The meeting between the two teams in Hessen in the autumn finished goalless and the first half here went the same way. The shaven-headed Maximillian Dittgen struck Wehen’s only real chance off target, whilst Heidenheim couldn’t make the most of their chances at the other end.
Heniz Lindner kept out a nice strike from Marc Schnatterer, and later blocked a cross from Norman Theuerkauf. His defence couldn’t clear their lines and it was left to Niklas Dams to intercept a follow-up effort from Robert Leipertz on the line.
Heidenheim’s long-standing coach Frank Schmidt had kept faith with most of the team that were beaten by VfL Bochum last weekend, with Norman Theuerkauf the only player to come in, replacing Jonas Föhrenbach.
Tactically they were largely in a 4-3-3, although it was notable that Niklas Dorsch, who usually sits in front of the defence, played further up with Sebastian Griesbeck deeper instead. Perhaps this was an attempt to break down Wehen’s defensive lines in their usual 3-3-3-1/4-5-1 shape.
By and large, despite conceding the majority of possession as usual, Wehen held firm. They may have been worried before the match without defenders Sascha Mockenhaupt and Benedikt Röcker, both suspended, but their replacements, Jeremias Lorch, usually a midfielder, and Dominick Franke didn’t comprise the collective effort.
Mohr takes moment to shine
Heidenheim remained on top after half-time. A deflected shot from Tim Kleindienst was kept out by Lindner, but the Austrian could have done better a few minutes later when parrying a long-range shot from Niklas Dorsch. Leipertz met the rebound but Lindner recovered in time.
Lindner was starting to look a little shaky and as soon Mohr’s free-kick beat the Wehen wall, there was little chance for the Wehen keeper of stopping it. He may have expected Schnatterer to take it, but the captain allowed Mohr to sweetly strike it in with his right foot, his first goal since joining from SpVgg Greuther Fürth in the winter.
Wehen may have been unsettled by three quick-fire changes, largely influenced by a concerning-looking injury to skipper Sebastian Mrowca. Ahead of a crucial game down at the bottom against SV Sandhausen in midweek, that will be one concern for Rehm coming out of this game, as well as the limited attacking efforts.
In the latter stages they switched to 4-4-2 with last week’s match winner Phillip Tietz coming on, but the disallowed goal followed shortly after and they were unable to make any more inroads into the game. Wingers Dittgen and Stefan Aigner were disappointing, with the former’s miss in the first half and the other guilty of at least on awful giveaway.
As for Schmidt, he had admitted before the game that his team had still be short of their usual level against Bochum last week, so he will be more than happy to get a result out of this game even if his team have yet to rediscover their best. They travel to Hamburg to face FC St. Pauli on Wednesday night.
Heidenheim: Müller; Busch, Mainka, Beermann, Theuerkauf (Föhrenbach 59‘); Griesbeck, Dorsch; Leipertz (Sessa 86‘), Kerschbaumer (Mohr 59‘), Schnatterer (Multhaup 76‘); Kleindienst.
Wiesbaden: Lindner; Lorch, Dams, Franke; Mrowca (Knöll 65‘), Chato, Schwede (Tietz 77‘); Aigner (Titsch-Rivero 67‘), Kyereh, Dittgen (Kuhn 67‘); Schäffler.
Goal: Mohr (70’).
Elsewhere on Friday
The points were shared in the other game, with Erzgebirge Aue much happier with the 1-1 result than their hosts 1. FC Nürnberg. When Dimitrij Nazarov put Aue ahead, and with Wehen still drawing at this stage, Der Club slipped into the bottom three in the live table.
They had an own goal from Sören Gonther to spare their blushes in the end, but Jens Keller’s side remain in deep trouble. Aue, on the other hand, are fifth.
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