Five new Eagles were in the starting line-up put together by manager Armin Veh - goalkeeper Thomas Kessler, defenders Gordon Schildenfeld and Constant Djakpa, midfielder Matthias Lehmann and striker Erwin 'Jimmy' Hoffer. Caio and Meier came down the wings in a 4-4-3 formation with new appointed captain Schwegler and youngster Rode in midfield. Jung and Russ completed the back four.
Fürth have similar ambitions to the ones of Frankfurt, with promotion being their main target. The first 15 minutes of the game were even with both teams trying to adapt to their opponent. No major events were noted - a Russ header after a corner, shots from Djakpa and Meier and a Schröck attempt which did not test Eintracht's new number one in goal Thomas Kessler.
With their first proper scoring opportunity SpVgg grabbed the lead when Nöthe got past Schildenfeld and converted with a clean finish (20'). The host's opener came slightly out of the blue and the Eagles seemed dazed by it. Austrian striker Hoffer chipped the ball three minutes after Fürth's lead but missed, so did Caio moments later but he also could not find the net (32'). The Brazilian midfielder had a decent performance with an improved working ratio compared to recent showings. Also Schwegler, Lehmann and Rode distributed the ball well in the middle; the passing was fluent yet in front of Fürth's goal no decisive chances were created by the Eagles.
Caio picked up the first yellow card for the Eagles in the season 2011/12 (37'), then Lehmann nearly found Meier with a through ball but SpVgg keeper Grün was at the end of it. (43'). With one minute to go Nöthe scored his second after what seemed to be a misunderstanding between Kessler and Schildenfeld (44') - the hosts were 2-0 up, a setback of some kind for Eintracht just ahead of the break.
Manager Veh made no substitions at the beginning of the second half which started with a couple of great chances for Fürth that could have sealed the defeat for Eintracht. Prib was through on goal but hit the post (46'), then Occean could not finish it from close range (47'). The Eagles hit back in style when Meier velleyed in a Fürth clearance from 20 metres after 56 minutes - 2-1!
The goal seemed to bring back the self belief to Eintracht, Hoffer had another go minutes later but it was again Meier who netted the equalizer with a fine header after a Schwegler free-kick cross (64'). Schwegler himself had a go a minute later but his shot went wide, still the new skipper had an impact in midfield connecting the back four with the game towards the front. Then Köhler came on for Lehmann (72').
Caio was on center stage again when he found Hoffer with a fine through ball which the Austrian was not able to control (74'), then the Brazilian hit a decent free-kick after Rode had been fouled (79'). A minute later he was subbed off for another summer signing - Karim Matmour gave his debut for the Eagles (80').
But it were the hosts again who came close to scoring the lead, Sararer's try was close but wide (83') and Pektürk's powerful shot was blocked (88'). Then - with just one minute to go - Köhler picked up a ball on the left and did not let it go, passed it to Meier in the middle who showed great vision and skill to pass it on to Matmour on the right (89'). The Algerian international made a dummy and let go - with a deflection of a Fürth defender the ball curled into the bottom left corner of the goal - win at last!
Shortly later the match was over, and the Eagles showed joy and relief about the first important win of the season away to direct competitors Fürth. Veh had made the right substitution and the team had shown great moral to come back after being 2-0 down. The strong Eintracht support (around 2,200 were amongst the sell out crowd of 14,200) was also happy to see the spirit of the team and to celebrate three goals although the first half performance had led to expect much less.
Monday the 25th of July will see the first Eintracht home game this season which will be another test: St. Pauli will come to Frankfurt for another clash of two contenders for promotion.
