Hennings double secures Dusseldorf point against ten-man Hoffenheim

In a game dominated by the opening 20 minutes, Fortuna Dusseldorf and Hoffenheim shared an entertaining 2-2 draw on Saturday afternoon.

It had been the perfect start for Dusseldorf on 5 minutes.

With three to aim at in the middle, Kevin Stöger‘s cross found the unmarked head of Rouwen Hennings who, on his return to the side, headed past Oliver Baumann to give Uwe Rosler’s team the lead. 

Things went from bad to worse for Hoffenheim when captain Benjamin Hübner was dismissed for an elbow on Kaan Ayhan with just eight minutes on the clock.

After a lengthy VAR check, and some confusion from Hübner as to whether he was staying on the pitch or not, the centre-back was eventually dismissed. 

The ten-men were not to be discouraged however, Munas Dabbur firing his first Bundesliga goal home after Stefan Posch’s effort was initially saved to level proceedings.

Dusseldorf thought they were back ahead when Hennings headed home after brilliant work from Markus Suttner but the goal was chalked off due to a foul from Kenan Karaman, the game full of action with just 20 minutes on the clock.

That proved to be the last key action of the first half as Dusseldorf failed to convert possession into meaningful chances, the teams heading into the break level.

Alfred Schleuder would have communicated at half-time the need to capitalise on any chances that fall Hoffenheim’s way, although Danish midfielder Robert Skov seemingly failed to receive this message when blazing over a one-on-one chance with Florian Kastenmeier early in the second period.

Skov made up for his early error on the hour mark. The 24-year-old drove down the left-hand side before firing a low cross towards the edge of the box for Steven Zuber to step onto, the Swiss international cooly side-footing the ball into the far corner to give the ten-men the lead.

Henning’s headed over a chance soon after but the quality of delivery into their top scorer was a constant problem for Rosler’s men throughout the contest.

The urgency displayed from Dusseldorf accelerated as the game entered the final 15 minutes and the home team were rewarded when being awarded a penalty for a foul on Erik Thommy by Havard Nordtveit.

Responsibility of the spot-kick fell to Hennings, who sent Baumann the wrong way to net his 14th Bundesliga goal this season.

It now felt Dusseldorf’s game to go and win, Die Flingeraner starting to sustain attacks on the Hoffenheim goal.

A fourth draw in six meetings between these meetings it would eventually turn out, Dusseldorf missing the opportunity to strength their quest for Bundesliga survival.