For now, Dimitrios Grammozis can breathe a sigh of relief.
After the first home win of the season, the head coach of FC Schalke 04 is going a little more relaxed into the upcoming international break.
The previously criticized Grammozis can thank his strong strikers Marius Bülter and Simon Terodde, who shot out the 3: 1 (1: 1) victory in West Schlager against Fortuna Düsseldorf.
In a fast-paced second division game with some hair-raising defensive failures, Shinta Appelkamp (12th minute) shot Fortuna in the lead. But Bülter (15th) and Terodde (46th) turned the game in front of 25,000 spectators in the sold out arena on Schalke under Corona conditions. Shortly before the end, Terodde even increased to 3: 1 with his sixth goal of the season, which was a bit happy for Schalke in view of the weak second half.
With the redeeming victory, the Bundesliga climber made a leap up in the table and now has seven points from five games following the top third.
Fortuna, on the other hand, with their new coach Christian Preusser, is stuck in the table cellar early on with only four disappointing points.
With the unsettled Schalke players, who had already had great unrest after the bitter 1: 4 at Jahn Regensburg, the long staid fortunes could not use the lead.
After falling behind at the beginning of the second round, the guests woke up late.
Terodde, the Redeemer
The uncertainty of the messed up season start was noticeable to both teams at the beginning.
Tried, but with clear coordination problems, Schalke and Fortuna began, the defensive rows looked bad.
When guiding the guests, the Düsseldorf-born Malick Thiaw failed in the build-up and Ko Itakura was completely wrong on his starting eleven, U21 national player Appelkamp had an easy game.
A slapstick insert in the Düsseldorf midfield brought Schalke back shortly afterwards.
Edgar Prib and Christoph Klarer did not agree on what was actually a harmless situation and Schalke's goal scorer Terodde was the beneficiary.
Terodde cleared Bülter, who gave Fortuna keeper Florian Kastenmeier no chance.
From then on, both teams played bravely forward, but the hosts had the better chances, who were only rewarded after the change. Again, the Fortuna defense looked bad at Terodde's stab. Only now did Fortuna really put pressure on it and now had good chances. Most of the Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann destroyed. Until the redeeming decision shortly before the end, hardly anything came from Schalke. Accordingly, the 3: 1 was unleashed and the final whistle was cheered.