Patient to the Lucky Punch

In some games, this category writes itself. Our moment of the match is, of course, Killian Corredor’s winning goal in the 94th minute. „The good old lucky punch,“ is how Marcel Schuhen dubbed the game-deciding moment when Corredor, after a pass from Fraser Hornby, appeared alone in front of the previously indomitable Jan Reichert, remained ice-cold, and sent SV 98 into a frenzy of joy.

A short time later, the match at the Max-Morlock-Stadion was over, the Lilies celebrated exuberantly in front of the atmospheric away section, and Corredor himself was able to relate the loud „Allez les bleus“ chanted by the approximately 1,200 voices to himself. The Frenchman had to sit out for two weeks with calf problems before returning to training last week and, as a substitute, fired his team to their first away win since November. It couldn’t be more „moment of the match.“

Nevertheless, we’d like to recall two more moments in which goalkeeper Schuhen was instrumental in enabling Corredor to score the winning goal. With two sensational reflex saves on headers from Robin Knoche (75th minute) and Fabio Gruber (88th minute), the captain secured the clean sheet and opened the door for the lucky punch. „He made a great save there,“ praised FCN coach Miroslav Klose, while Kai Klefisch summed up: „Schuh was outstanding today.“

The defence. With the exception of set pieces (more on that in „That didn’t go well“), FCN had almost no major chances on Friday evening. Only Semir Telalovic had a promising finish from open play, but beyond that, the Lilies had everything under control defensively. „That speaks for Paddy, that speaks for Vuko, but also for Kai, Hiro, and Mey, who all played well defensively,“ summarised Florian Kohfeldt, adding: „It’s always important to keep a clean sheet, and then we have players who can decide a game like that.“

The clean sheet was the basis for the narrow away win. For the first time since April 2024 (2-0 in Köln), the South Hesse side kept a clean sheet on the road. A fact that goalkeeper Schuhen also emphasised: „That’s the big difference from last season. We’re keeping a clean sheet and not running into a trap. That’s a big step.“

Patience. SV 98 remained focused for 95 minutes and remained alert at the decisive moment. There was no hectic attack against the hosts, who were at times quite deep-lying; Schuhen openly admitted that the Lilies would have „taken“ the 0-0 draw that day. Things turned out differently, with the final act, the South Hesse team secured the full haul. „We didn’t have a win like that last season,“ Klefisch rightly concluded, adding: „We now know that we can win games like that, too.“

On January 31 of this year, Darmstadt lost a very similar match in Nürnberg in the closing stages. So it’s entirely logical that Klefisch spoke after the game about the Lilies having „grown up.“ That they can no longer lose such a match, remain patient, and even win in the end.

The opponent’s set pieces. „We need to talk about why we got into that situation twice. Schuh can’t always save those balls.“ In his summary of the match, head coach Kohfeldt criticised his team’s behaviour during the hosts‘ two great chances in the final quarter of an hour. Both Knoche and Gruber were criminally unmarked for their headers following corners – a circumstance that Schuhen also admonished in post-match interviews.

The attacking play. This point falls more under the heading „That didn’t go as well as it did against Bochum.“ The Lilies were certainly present offensively in Nürnberg, creating two great chances through Marco Richter and Hiroki Akiyama, and creating several more opportunities. And yet Kohfeldt openly acknowledged that his team struggled at times to create targeted attacking moves against the compact and well-organised Nürnberg side.“

Asked about the minor flaws from Friday evening, Schuhen explained with a grin: „We’ve had a perfect start in terms of points. Not quite in terms of performance. But if everything were perfect now, it would be too early in the season.“

A conclusion we’re happy to agree with.