Conteh and Kaufmann magic ensure Heidenheim stun Augsburg

Heidenheim notched their first Bundesliga victory of the season this afternoon, but drama ensued in the initial exchanges as Cedric Zesiger caught the ankles of Sirlord Conteh close to the box. Appeals for a red card rang around the Voith Arena, but nothing came as Niklas Dorsch blazed over from the free. Zesiger escaped with yellow for his troubles. 

Heidenheim came close to capitalising on some slack defending from Marius Wolf approaching the half-hour mark. Patrick Mainka refused to let the ball go dead and pinched it before feeding Conteh who spurned a guilt-edged chance from 11 metres.

Frank Schmidt’s side continued to dominate the goal-scoring opportunities before the half-time whistle. Mikkel Kaufmann ought to have profited from Finn Dahmen’s nervy goalkeeping, while Conteh skied over from an unmarked position with a final corner routine. 

The hosts’ dominance eventually paid off two minutes after the second-half commenced. Conteh – a thorn in Augsburg’s side all afternoon – cut down the right and picked out Mikkel Kaufmann whose first-time finished ripped past Dahmen into the top-left corner. 

Suddenly, the scoreboard in the Voith Arena read 2-0 to Heidenheim inside 54 minutes. On this occasion, Conteh and Kaufmann switched roles as the latter fended off Zesiger and squared for Conteh to place his shot under the bar with precision. 

Sandro Wagner made a triple alteration with Giannoulis, Banks and Kömür introduced. The Greek full-back almost set up Fabian Rieder in an instant but Diant Ramaj shoved the half-volley over the bar. Philipp Tietz pulled one back in stoppage time, but it was too late for the Bavarians to mount a comeback.