Two games, two wins. Fortuna Düsseldorf remains ambitious under coach Thioune and defeats strong Paderborn. The Rhinelanders are taking over the top of the table for the time being.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - Fortuna Düsseldorf remains a home power with coach Daniel Thioune and has taken the lead in the 2nd Bundesliga for at least one day. "We threw everything back in today. That's a good feeling. Paderborn have a strong team that scored five goals last weekend," said Fortuna's goalscorer Rouwen Hennings after the 2-1 (2-1) win against SC Paderborn on Friday evening.
The Düsseldorfers have thus continued their series of successes in front of their own audience and pushed the East Westphalians off the top of the table in the 2nd Bundesliga. The team from Düsseldorf, who have not been defeated in the Merkur Spiel-Arena for six months, scored two wins from the start for the first time in the 2nd division after their 2-1 win at 1. FC Magdeburg. "It's completely normal to collect a few points at the start of the season. That was successful, but there's still a lot that can be improved," said Fortuna's head coach one day after his 48th birthday.
The Rhinelanders, who have suffered just one defeat in 15 games under Thioune, took a 1-0 lead in front of 22,634 spectators thanks to Dawid Kownacki's lightning-fast start after 81 seconds. In an intense game well worth seeing, the guests equalized through Felix Platte (21st) before Hennings brought the hosts back into the lead (30th). It was the 86th second division goal for the 34-year-old. Paderborn, who started the season with a 5-0 win against Karlsruher SC, still had good chances to make it 2-2 through Platte, but were unable to overcome the well-positioned Fortuna defense around captain Andre Hoffmann.
