Lilies celebrate next home win!

The home game against Karlsruher SC needed no time to get going and already offered some highlights in the first ten minutes. After two minutes, the Lilies had the first shot of the game, but Killian Corredor’s shot landed in the keeper’s arms. Shortly afterwards, the guests also had their first opportunity and should have taken the lead: after a corner, Marcel Schuhen was able to parry a header from Nicolai Rapp with his body, the ball dropped for Marcel Franke who volleyed the ball off the top of the bar on 7 minutes. The miss proved crucial as 3 minutes later, the Lilien took the lead. Jean-Paul Boëtius hit the crossbar after receiving a pass from Fraser Hornby. The ball fell kindly for Isac Lidberg who was able to chest the ball down and finish from close range.

In the following minutes, Darmstadt had the game well under control and hardly allowed the guests to launch any offensive moves. On the other hand, the Lilies kept getting their moves, but mostly without causing any major danger. It wasn’t until just over half an hour later that things got really dangerous again: Aleksandar Vukotic headed the ball after a corner, but Karlsruhe’s keeper Weiß dived and blocked the attempt. The home team had the game well under control in the remaining minutes until the half-time whistle and went into the break with a narrow lead.

Even after the break, the game initially appeared unchanged: The Lilies had a lot of possession and patiently let the ball run through their own ranks. In the first 10 minutes after the interval chances came the way of Lidberg and Clemens Riedel but they weren’t able to take advantage. After just under an hour, Lidberg had what was up to that point the best chance to make it 2-0: Hornby slid the ball across goal but Lidberg saw his shot from a tight angle blocked by Weiß in the KSC goal.

The 98ers now increased the pressure and repeatedly got into good situations with speed. In the middle of this phase, the guests also had their first shot of the second period, but Schuhen parried Kaufmann’s shot just past the hour. Schuhen had to intervene again four minutes later, but the goalkeeper had no problems with Ben Farhat’s attempt on 66 minutes. Weiß was again called into action but he made a strong save from Lidberg’s long-range shot after 68 minutes.

In the 73rd minute, the 98ers finally rewarded themselves for their strong performance: Hornby played a strong pass into the path of Lidberg, who found Corredor with his cross. He controlled the ball and put it into the far corner to make it 2-0. Even after that, the Lilies kept their foot on the gas and upped the ante just six minutes later: Corredor moved into the penalty area, left his opponent standing, passed to Merveille Papela, who made it 3-0 with his first goal for the Lilies. In the final minutes, the home side had further chances through Fynn Lakenmacher (85th) and Guille Bueno (86th), but another goal was not to be scored and so the game ended 3-0 for the South Hesse team.