Points shared on Friday evening

In the home match against FC St. Pauli, the visitors from Hamburg enjoyed more possession in the early stages, though the Lilies produced the better attacking moments. Just six minutes in, Milan Smit had a chance to open the scoring; he hesitated a fraction too long before sending his shot narrowly wide of the far post. The visitors registered their first attempt on goal after 15 minutes, but Marcel Schuhen dealt with Metcalfe’s effort without any major difficulty.

As the half progressed, Hamburg managed more attempts on goal, though they rarely troubled the Darmstadt defence. The Lilies put in a spirited and focused performance, yet lacked the necessary decisiveness in the final third. In the 36th minute, the hosts strung together a promising move through the opposition half, but the final pass intended for Marco Richter was just a touch too long, allowing Ritzka to clear the danger.

Following one minute of stoppage time, the teams headed into the break with the score still goalless.

After the restart, the visitors continued to control more of the ball, while the South Hessians frequently threatened by launching quick counter-attacks. However, neither side managed to create any significant goal-scoring opportunities during this period.

The side from Hamburg threatened the Darmstadt goal twice: first, Schuhen comfortably saved a shot from Metcalfe on 68 minutes, and two minutes later, a ball from a scramble in the box went wide.

At the other end, on 74 minutes, Noah Weißhaupt played a ball into the middle for Smit, whose shot struck an opposing player’s arm; the referee, however, deemed the contact insufficient to award a penalty. Two minutes later, Weißhaupt tried his own luck, but his shot from 18 metres out sailed over the crossbar. Even in the final minutes, neither team managed to force a goal, and so the match ended in a goalless draw.