2. Bundesliga: Hannover stay third after six-goal thriller in Darmstadt

2. Bundesliga: Hannover stay third after six-goal thriller in Darmstadt

Ten-man Darmstadt produced a spirited second-half performance to salvage a draw against Elversberg. The visitors also had a brilliant spell in the entertaining game where they overturned a two-goal deficit to lead at the break, but they were outplayed despite an extra man advantage in the second-half.

Patrick Pfeiffer turned from hero to zero in the space of half an hour for the hosts. The center-back put Florian Kohfeldt's side in front from a set-piece play before his second sending off of 2026. However, there were lots of drama between the two events.

First, Fraser Hornby doubled Darmstadt’s lead a minute after Pfeiffer's strike with Tom Zimmerschied's lack of concentration leading to the opportunity. The winger made up for it with a goal that brought Elversberg into the game in the 26th minute. And, less than ten minutes later, Maximilian Rohr surprised everyone with a long-range strike to tie the game.

Pfeiffer's last man challenge on David Mokwa came after that as the damage was doubled with Luka Petkov scoring with a deflection from the resulting free-kick. However, Darmstadt came out as a different side after the restart.

Isac Lidberg and Hornby's superb linkup play brought the sixth goal of the match five minutes into the second-half. After a mini goal drought, the Scottish striker netted twice to salvage a dramatic point for the hosts.

There was still lots to unpack in the final 40 minutes of the game. The home fans were furious when Richard Hempel only showed a yellow card to Lukas Pinckert when there was a similarity with the first-half action. Nonetheless, Elversberg’s captain will be absent for next week's game against fellow promotion hopefuls Paderborn due to accumulated cards.