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

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.

Both goalkeepers also made decent stops, while Matej Maglica produced a crucial goal line clearance in injury-time. Kohfeldt signalled the fans to raise their voices after the final whistle, but his side are now six points behind the promotion playoff spot with only three games left to play.

The result didn't help Elversberg’s case either as they dropped outside the top three. If Padeborn beat Schalke in tomorrow's top-of-the-table clash, Vincent Wagner’s side would be five points adrift of automatic promotion place.