Leaders Aue with best start - Cottbus celebrates Borgmann

Leipzig (dpa) -

Aue storm to the top of the third division after Saxony derby win

With the best third division start in history, Aue coach Pavel Dotchev underpinned the promotion hopes he first expressed before the Saxony derby. Head of sport Matthias Heidrich agreed with him. It was "right to say what your ambitions are." After so many years in the second division, you can't say "we're going to stay in the third division for another 15 or 16 years. So the statement is not wrong," said Heidrich on "Magentasport".

The 2-0 win against arch-rivals Dynamo Dresden thanks to goals from Mirnes Pepic (6th minute) and ex-Dynamo Marvin Stefaniak (9th) had an emotional aftermath. The two leading wolves Martin Männel and Stefan Kutschke caused heated scenes in the 101st derby. First, Männel provoked a yellow card for the enraged Kutschke with a follow-up kick, then he caused a yellow card in the 83rd minute with a theatrical landing on Kutschke's shoulder after the Dresden player had provocatively crossed his path.

"A clear red card, so the first yellow for Stefan is not justified," said Dynamo coach Thomas Stamm after the unpunished assault by Männel and defended his striker in his analysis based on the TV images: "In a derby, it's difficult to keep your emotions under control. Stefan knows that he might not sprint next time in a situation like that."

Stamm sees the defeat as a piece of the puzzle for the team's development: "Defeats bring you forward at the end of the day, defeats are part of success." Away from the heated debate about the yellow-red, he spoke of a deserved win for Auer because the home side were "grippier and more in the duels".

Cottbus celebrate goalscorer Borgmann

Substitute Axel Borgmann scored in stoppage time to give Energie Cottbus their first win in the 3rd division. He scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time in the 2-1 win against promoted side Alemannia Aachen after Henry Rorig (19) had put the Lusatians ahead. In front of 9,218 spectators, Anton Heinz (52) made it 1:1 for Aachen.

"When a person like that, who lives for the club and the region and identifies with it so much. When he scores a goal like that after his injury, everything falls away. He has a special place in my heart because I know what he, his wife and their child have achieved. That can't be taken for granted," said coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz about his captain, who had previously missed nine months due to a cruciate ligament rupture.

"We've more than earned it. When you don't win, it does something to your head. All the better that we can enjoy the moment," said Borgmann, who asked the referee before the final corner whether it was over. "He said yes. Then I asked him if I could shoot again when the ball came to me. Then he said, yes, you can do it. That still counts."

Hansa miss out on first win in stoppage time

Second division relegated team Hansa Rostock missed out on their first win of the season after conceding a last-second goal. The final score against Borussia Dortmund II was only 1:1, as Julian Hettwer (90.+5) scored with the last action for Borussia. Kjell Arik Wätjen (17) had previously put Hansa ahead with an own goal. "At the moment, we're spared nothing. We're working, fighting and giving everything. I don't know how much longer it will take, but we'll keep going," said coach Bernd Hollerbach. Hansa captain Franz Pfanne, who once played for BVB, said: "We put in a huge effort and then get hit in the face like that in the last action of the game. It just feels like shit."

Hollerbach also took issue with the referee. "We didn't get a clear goal. Fröhling's 2-0, where the whistle was blown for offside, is absolutely madness," said the coach, who has just two points with his team after three matchdays. Pfanne was therefore particularly annoyed about the manner of the defeat: "As an experienced third division team, we have to defend the 1-0 with man and mouse and we didn't manage to do that."