Young Aussie Dario Vidosic came off the bench to help FC Nürnberg maintain their Bundesliga promotion hopes with a 2-0 victory over VfL Osnabrück today.Vidosic, who had scored in Nürnberg's last two matches, surprisingly started on the bench for the Bavarians with manager Michael Oenning preferring returning regular Isaac Boakye up front.
But Vidosic would come off the bench to good effect, providing the assist for a crucial late Marek Mintal goal which sealed the victory for Nürnberg.
Earlier Mintal had got in behind the Osnabrück defence before beating opposition keeper Tino Berbig in a one-on-one to give Nürnberg a 16th minute lead.
In the second-half, the crowd cheered as Vidosic came on as a 62nd minute substitute for Boakye, with the former Queensland Roar man going straight into attack.
But the Australian came on just as Osnabrück were enjoying their best spell in the game and much of the play was down the other end.
Indeed when Osnabrück substitute Tom Geissler went close with a shot from inside the box, the Nürnberg crowd began to get nervous, especially considering their rivals for an automatic promotion place, FSV Mainz, were ahead in their game.
But Nürnberg weathered the storm and Vidosic almost made sure of the points for them on 82 minutes when he found space inside the box before hastily fizzing a shot into the side netting.
The Australian made amends for his miss though, when Marcel Risse found him wide in the box and Vidosic wisely elected to pass to Mintal, rather than shoot, allowing the Slovakian to force the ball home from close-range and seal the victory.
The result keeps Nürnberg in the running for automatic promotion, taking them to 56 points behind second-placed Mainz on 57 with two games to play.
Fourth-placed Greuther Fürth drew with champions SC Freiburg on Wednesday, meaning Nürnberg now enjoy a three-point gap on their nearest rivals for the battle for third spot which entitles that club to a playoff with the third last club from the Bundesliga.
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