Krmas snatches win for Freiburg

Pavel Krmas scored late in the game to hand Freiburg a 1-0 victory over Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.

Pavel Krmas scored late in the game to hand Freiburg victory over Fortuna Dusseldorf, a result that lifted the host to fifth place in the Bundesliga. Krmas converted the only goal of the match - only Freiburg's second in four matches since the winter break - in the 87th minute. The home side hit the post before and after that goal as they had the best of chances. Victory took Freiburg to 31 points, level with Mainz and Hamburg, while Dusseldorf remained on 24 points, eight clear of the drop zone. Freiburg had the first chance after 17 minutes as Max Kruse collected a pass from Jonathan Schmid but saw his shot rebound off the outside of the right post. The hosts were close again four minutes before the break but Johannes Flum's shot was stopped by Dusseldorf keeper Fabian Giefer and Cedrick Makiadi's rebound attempt squirmed wide. Dusseldorf were an improved force in in the second half and had a scoring opportunity in the 55th minute when Martin Latka's header went just wide following a free-kick. The guests had a counter attack with 15 minutes left but Oliver Fink could not find the target from 16 yards. Dusseldorf's next chance came in the 82nd minute with Robbie Kruse passing to Andreas Lambertz, but the visiting captain saw Freiburg goalkeeper Oliver Baumann get down in time to stop his shot. Freiburg grabbed the victory with just three minutes remaining as Krmas headed in Max Kruse's corner. Max Kruse nearly doubled the lead three minutes into stoppage time but his shot cannoned off the post.