1. FC Heidenheim dropped two valuable points in a 2-2 draw at Arminia Bielefeld. Despite clear dominance and numerous chances, Frank Schmidt's team had to accept an undeserved equaliser on the sixth matchday of the 2. Bundesliga.
The visitors from Heidenheim, sitting third in the table with 12 points, fell behind early. Joel Grodowski scored for Bielefeld in the 13th minute. But Heidenheim turned the game around before the break. Budu Zivzivadze converted a penalty after a foul by Bauer (30.). In first-half stoppage time, Paul Hennrich cut in from the right and fired home from 17 metres to make it 2-1. Before the match, Frank Schmidt had said that transition play could be the key. His team executed that well in the first half.
Bielefeld's fortunate equaliser
Shortly after the restart, Bielefeld found their equaliser. A long-range effort from Felix Hagmann from 25 metres took a deflection and found the net (55.). Heidenheim pushed for a winner again afterwards. Julian Niehues headed just over from a free-kick in the 76th minute. The statistics tell a clear story: Heidenheim had 14 shots and an expected goals value of 3.14, while Bielefeld managed only six attempts and 0.4 xG. A handball by David Min on Hennrich's face was not given as a penalty, with VAR not intervening. These numbers show the visitors' dominance, which is reflected in the overall match stats.
With the draw, Heidenheim remain in the top group but missed a chance to close the gap on leaders Hertha BSC. The team now looks ahead to the next home fixture. On 10 October, 1. FC Heidenheim host 1. FC Kaiserslautern, who currently sit fifth. Recent form of three wins, one draw and one loss in the last five games provides reason for optimism. The season's top scorer so far is J. Schöppner with three goals. To track the full squad lineup and further details, it's worth checking the squad overview.
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