Hallescher FC wins basement duel at MSV Duisburg

Halle FC pulled a 3:2 (1:2) win out of the fire in the basement duel at MSV Duisburg on Tuesday. Ahmet Engin (15th, 32nd) had put the penultimate club twice in front. Timur Gayret (27), Dominic Baumann (76) and Jonas Nietfeld (87) scored for the Red & Whites, who saw Niklas Kreuzer make his comeback after recovering from cancer and almost six months out of action. The right-back was substituted for Julian Eitschberger in the 69th minute. Duisburg finished the match with only ten players. Joshua Bitter (59) was shown the red card after a tackle from behind on Tarsis Bonga.

After a fifteen-minute period of feeling things out, events came thick and fast. After a counter-attack initiated by Santiago Castaneda, Niklas Kölle crossed for Engin, who only had to push the ball over the line from close range. However, the team from Halle coped well with the deficit. Gayret headed a free-kick from Besar Halimi into the net to make it 1:1. However, the visitors' joy at equalizing lasted just five minutes. Engin slid a backpass from Thomas Pledl into the net from eight meters.

After the break, the Red & Whites had more possession, but did not create any promising goalscoring opportunities for a long time. The home side, on the other hand, restricted themselves to defending their narrow lead and hardly made any attacking moves when outnumbered. The first dangerous shot on the Duisburg box came from Aljaz Casar (74'). Two minutes later, Tunay Deniz played an accurate pass to Baumann, who gave MSV keeper Vincent Müller no chance. After Nietfeld (86) only hit the crossbar, the HFC attacker dusted off Erich Berko's shot off the post a minute later to make it 3-2. In stoppage time, Deniz's shot was saved by the crossbar to prevent Halle's fourth goal.