Safety is inching ever closer for Augsburg, and a home game against struggling Schalke seemingly represented the perfect opportunity to put more daylight between themselves and the bottom three.
Mërgim Berisha spurned a glorious opportunity to hand Augsburg an early advantage, but his header grazed the crossbar in what was undoubtedly the best chance of the early stages.
Schalke are no pushover of late though, but they were finding it difficult to assert any sort of authority on this clash as they seek to lift themselves off the foot of the table.
It was otherwise a pretty drab half besides that sole Berisha chance, with plenty of huff and puff, but little by way of cutting edge in the final third.
That lack of attacking intent was the story of the first half, but Arne Maier ensured that wouldn’t be the case after the break when he latched onto Ermedin Demirović’s deft ball to fire the hosts into a deserved lead, though that optimism was only short-lived.
No sooner had he been involved in the opening goal, Demirović was to play no further part in the rest of the game, as a moment of madness where he kicked out at Tom Krauß saw the Augsburg man receive his marching orders as they faced the prospect of seeing out the game a man light.
Schalke’s initial reaction to gaining a numerical advantage was muted though, with the visitors still struggling to cut through a dogged Augsburg rearguard.
Simon Terodde looked to have spurned Schalke’s best chance of snatching an equaliser when he rifled narrowly wide of the upright as their three-match unbeaten away run ebbed closer to grinding to a halt.
There was a late sting in the tale though, with Schalke earning a late penalty which Marius Bülter duly converted to end Augsburg’s perfect home league record in 2023 and lift Schalke off the foot of the table and to within a point of safety.
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