The starting line up had not changed compared to the win away to Stuttgart two weeks ago. Alexander Meier stayed on the bench, Altintop and Gekas played up front, Chris and Schwegler in midfield and Tzavellas, Russ, Franz and Jung were the defending four. The first half was slightly mediocre as both teams worked hard against the ball, big chances were rare, and Eintracht’s game was not as convincing and dominant as it had been recently. A key moment of the match surely happened in th 26th minute, when Tzavellas duelled Lakic in the own box and Kaiserslautern was awarded a penalty. Lakic himself had the try but Oka Nikolov denied the hosts the lead with a fine save.
The Eagles now played more fluently and also appeared closer to the FCK goal more often. Just when everyone settled with a 0-0 half time score summer signing Theofanis Gekas once again showed his quality and netted after a fine display by Jung and Ochs in minute 45. Four games in a row now Gekas scored the first Eintracht goal. The saved penalty and the lead just before the break was as good for the Eagle’s moral as it was bad for the host’s.
In the second half Eintracht grew stronger and was only denied the second by FCK goalkeeper Sippel who had a double save from a Russ header and a Gekas shot. The confident display was proven by further shots of Jung, Altintop and Schwegler. It seemed a matter of time for Eintracht’s second goal and it came once again from Gekas, who hit home after a Tzavellas pass. The Greek striker scored his seventh goal in his eighth game for Eintracht and is now joint top scorer of Bundesliga (alongside Freiburg’s Cisse).
It wasn’t meant to be for Kaiserslautern today, Koehlers off the line clearance was symbolic. Eintracht did it better and expanded the score when Schwegler sent Jung down the right wing, and the youngster delivered a perfect pass to Meier who had come on in the 79th minute for Gekas. The around 4,000 Eintracht fans celebrated the third – Meier’s first of the season, while most of the 49,800 crowd started their way home.
The Eagles have now turned around the disappointing start to the season and are in a position again to tackle the season target of 50 points. Coming up next is the home game against FC Schalke 04 on Saturday the 23rd of October (15.30h CET, English live commentary on www.eintracht.de). With the recent positive results the team will be looking at achieving the second home win of the season, to back up the current spot in the standings (eighth).
