Third competitive win in a row!

In an even opening to the game, the Lilies had the first chance after five minutes: Isac Lidberg deflected a shot from Fabian Nürnberger just wide of the goal with the tip of his foot. Three minutes later, the guests from Berlin also had their first attempt, but Marcel Schuhen directed Thorsteinsson’s long-range shot away from goal. On the 15 minute mark, Schuhen was again called into action, this time deflecting a shot from Niederlechner past the far post. Darmstadt fired back and Killian Corredor saw a curling effort fly narrowly wide of the far post in the 18th minute.

Hertha took the lead in the 21st minute of the game: after a cross, Niederlechner pushed the ball over the line to make it 0-1. Five minutes later, the Böllenfalltor celebrated when Kai Klefisch scored the supposed equaliser after a clever free kick routine, but the assistant’s flag went up for offside which was upheld by VAR. The game was now characterised by many interruptions, so that there was hardly any flow of play on both sides.

In the 41st minute, only the crossbar prevented the leveller from Aleksander Vukotic following another free kick. The next free kick for SVD did bring about the equaliser: Philipp Förster only hit the wall with the free kick, but his rebound found the net via a deflection to make the score 1-1 at halftime (45th).

The South Hesse team came out of the half-time break well and also had their first good chance five minutes into the second half: the ball came to Lidberg via Förster, but the attempt was just deflected away. However, the visitors went one better and got the ball into the net via Thorsteinsson but as we saw in Bremen last season when Tim Skarke scored, the goal was chalked out for a handball decision by VAR.

After a set piece, the 98ers had their next good opportunity: Vukotic put a ball in the middle and Lidberg kneed the ball over the bar just past the hour mark. Four minutes later, Lidberg did better and put the Lilies in the front: a cross from Guille Bueno came to the far post and Lidberg wearing a bandage following a clash of heads, climbed highest to head home.

At first there was little danger from the guests, but then Schuhen was challenged twice, but he first fended off Schuler’s header on 76 minutes and then a minute later, he fended off the effort from Cuisance. The Lilies were clinical with their next attack: Andreas Müller had a lot of space in midfield, advanced with the ball and scored from a distance to make it 3-1 (81st). In the final minutes, the South Hessians hardly allowed anything to happen and thus secured the home win.