Armin Veh made no changes to Eintracht’s starting line-up compared to the one of the 2-1 win away to Erzgebirge Aue. Former long time Eintracht coach Friedhelm Funkel was on the opponent’s bench today managing Alemannia Aachen, he replaced Odonkor and Radu with Stehle and Junglas.
Eintracht went forward from minute one and a couple of good chances in the first five minutes right away. First an own goal was not given by the referee due a supposed foul on Aachen goalkeeper Waterman (3’), then the Eagle brought the ball into the five yard box after a nice build up but Hoffer couldn’t set the final hit (4’).
The Eagles controlled the match right away, with Aachen forming their defense rather deep in their own half. The first goal came out of the blue though when keeper Waterman completely mishit a back pass and let go of the ball, Idrissou was there and finished into the empty goal (10’). It was his seventh goal of the season in the 9th game.
Two minutes later Idrissou crossed in from the right and found Köhler who was free in the box and converted confidently (12’). It was the third scoring attempt and the second goal, Köhler’s fifth of the season.
The match calmed down by a margin after the second goal and both teams hardly created any scoring opportunities in the remainder of the first half. Eintracht had 70% possession of the ball but there was a lack of creativity in the offense to put Aachen further under pressure.
While Friedhelm Funkel made a couple of substitutions after the break Eintracht’s line-up remained unchanged. Meier (47’) and Hoffer (48’) had chances early into the second half but did not find the end of the net. It seemed that the Eagles were now keen to make up for the rather uneventful period before the break. Köhler hit a decent free-kick which was just tipped over the bar by Waterman (59’).
Aachen had their first proper chance of the match following a corner when Köhler cleared a Radu header off the goal line (65’). Armin Veh brought on Lehmann for Rode (70’) who seemed to be slightly injured after a collision with an Aachen defender.
Then Aachen got a goal back when Auer scored with a back heel shot following a corner (78’). Eintracht’s reply followed promptly, Jimmy Hoffer hammered in a long rage shot following a decent build up via Jung and Matmour (81’). But only a minute later Aachen scored again, Radu headed in a cross of Achenbach (82’).
Meanwhile Matmour had came on for Idrissou (78') and a little later Tzavellas for Djakpa (84'). Köhler with a shot that went wide (84’) and Meier with a saved header (86’) tried their luck. Then Aachen’s Demai hit a powerful free-kick against the cross bar and from Nikolov’s back the ball seemed to cross the line and was cleared, still the goal stood (87’).
But the Eagles did not give up and Schwegler crossed in a free-kick, once again Matmour headed in a late match winning goal (89’). 38,500 had seen an early 2-0 lead of the Eagles that should have never been in danger. After a thrilling finish with a happy end for the Eagles the first spot in the rankings was secured.
Coming up next is the match away to 1860 München on Saturday at 13h CET.
