On Sunday, the final of the state cup was played between 1. FC Heidenheim and Ingolstadt at the Voith-Arena with an audience of 6,277 spectators under high summer temperatures. The second-tier team from Heidenheim showed a convincing performance and secured their eighth consecutive victory in the cup.
From the start, the Heidenheimer team aimed to control the game. In the 13th minute, Marcel Costly broke through the defense with a quick attack and scored for Heidenheim (1:0). Ingolstadt reacted only after a quarter of an hour when Jonas Föhrenbach secured a flank. Frank Feller parried a one-on-one situation from Lars Lokotsch in the 25th minute.
After the break, Frank Schmidt brought on Marnon Busch, Christian Conteh, and Benedikt Gimber to freshen up his team. In the 67th minute, Julian Kügel's ball interception led to a quick counterattack that resulted in Obed Chidindu scoring the second goal (2:1). Jonas Föhrenbach narrowly missed another opportunity in the center, while Paul Hennrich scored the third goal from the left half-field in the 84th minute (3:1). Just before the end of the game, a clear offside call by Georgios Antzoulas led to a 4:1 victory for Heidenheim.
Coach Frank Schmidt saw many positive aspects of his team's performance in the first half but also identified some issues. He believes they did not use their advantage and therefore deserved more than four goals. Nonetheless, it was still progress as they demonstrated several good game elements in the first half.
