FC Erzgebirge Aue have won three important points in their fight against relegation from the 3rd Football League. The Saxons beat VfB Stuttgart II 2:1 (1:0) and are now six points ahead of Stuttgart.
Mirnes Pepic put the hosts ahead after 32 minutes with a penalty in front of 7,217 spectators. Wahid Faghir equalized after 72 minutes. Maxim Burghardt (82) scored the much-acclaimed winner. Stuttgart's Jannik Hofmann (90+3) was shown a yellow card in stoppage time.
Aue started briskly, but the visitors had clearer opportunities - but only when the Violets made mistakes in defense. Goalkeeper Martin Männel (18) made the biggest mistake when he pushed the ball too far forward in the penalty area, but only just prevented Stuttgart from scoring with a sliding tackle on the edge of the box.
The hosts then took the lead in a low-scoring game. VfB captain Dominik Nothnagel unintentionally blocked a shot from Pascal Fallmann with his arm. Pepic gave the former Dresden player in the VfB goal, Stefan Drljaca, no chance from the penalty spot.
However, that did not give the Violets any security. On the contrary: From then on, the visitors dominated the game, but made too little of the chances they had. A header from Faghir was deflected onto the crossbar by Männel (42).
Stuttgart's visual superiority continued after the break. Aue let VfB have their way, but they looked harmless. The team from the Erzgebirge hardly set any accents forward themselves, trying much more to manage the narrow lead. That went wrong. But Aue had another arrow in their quiver. Burghardt converted a beautiful move standing completely free.
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