Fans hold up their team scarves during a 1. FC Kaiserslautern home game at Fritz Walter Stadium. (X/1. FC Kaiserslautern)
The 1.FC Kaiserslautern showed why Fritz Walter Stadium has become the toughest fortress in the 2.Bundesliga so far this season with a 3-2 victory over Bochum on Saturday afternoon.
The win gave the Red Devils a maximum of 12 points with a goal differential of seven through four matches at the Betzenberg. It also moved Kaiserslautern into fifth place on 15 points with four matches left to play this weekend before the October international break.
Ivan Prtajin stayed on fire, scoring his sixth and seventh goals in the last four matches for the Red Devils.
The striker gave FCK the lead for good in the 79th minute. Substitute Leon Robinson sent a through ball midway through the Bochum half for Prtajin. The 29-year-old Croatian ran onto the ball and behind the defense, dribbled 15 to 20 yards and beat a charging Timo Horn to make it 2-1.
Defender Paul Joly clinched the win seven minutes later. The home team turned over Bochum in the middle of their defensive half and blitzed into the 18-yard box. A Dickson Abiama cross took a deflection off Bochum defender Erhan Masovic, and Joly beat his defender to the ball near the penalty spot and fired it into the net.
A Bochum goal by Philipp Hofmann in the fourth minute of stoppage time made for a final few nervy moments, but the home squad saw off the closing seconds without a threat to its goal.
The Red Devils started off the match on the right foot, taking the lead in the 7th minute. Midfielder Semih Sahin launched a long pass to give Luca Sirch a free lane on the right wing. The defender centered the ball to a wide-open Prtajin, and who scored.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to respond, though.
In the 15th minute, 18-year-old Kacper Koscierski sent a low cross toward the middle of the 18-yard box, where it found Gerrit Holtmann. The Bochum midfielder shot from the penalty spot, and with some help from a Sirch deflection, the ball slipped inside the far post for the equalizer.
The Red Devils return to action with an Oct. 18 match at Karlsruhe. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
October 4, 2025 15:33
