Mainz flew into third place after they continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 victory over Augsburg on Saturday afternoon.

Hofmann and Samperio both scored for Mainz, while a Timo Werner consolation did nothing but take gloss from a comfortable performance from Hjulmand’s men.

The 0-Fives applied some early pressure, Marwin Hitz doing well to prevent both Hofmann and Bungert within the first five minutes.

Augsburg then turned the heat on with Bobadilla and Altintop looking sprightly, the later forcing Karius into a smart save and keep the score at 0-0.

The deadlock was broken though after 20 minutes, with on loan midfielder Jonas Hofmann taking the ball into the area, before striking the ball into the corner and past the helpless Hitz to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Augsburg didn’t react well to that goal and were 2-0 down just minutes later. Samperio reacted quickest in the box, and he executed a smart turn, dragged the ball to his right, and then powered the ball home to put his side in a commanding position with just 23 minutes gone.

Happy with their lead, they sat back and allowed Augsburg to attack them, and Bobadilla and Altintop were again the threats, but neither looked like scoring and were reduced to efforts from range.

Matavz joined the fray at half-time at Djurdjic’s expense, but did little to change proceedings, with Mainz looking to extend their run of four straight home clean sheets.

The usually reliable Timo Werner offered little going forward too, and he blazed a shot over with 20 minutes left as the game looked to be slipping away.

Another big chance loomed though for Augsburg, but Domonik Kohr wasted it when he headed straight at Karius with quarter of an hour left. Their consolation did come though, and it was the pint-sized Timo Werner who was on the end of Baba’s cross to power home and give his side a lifeline.

There was no huge danger of the equaliser though, Karius saw three efforts fly past his goal late on, but Mainz held on for a victory that meant they leapt into the Champions League places, while Ausgburg remained safely in midtable.

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About the author
Brad Smith
Director of football charity @Kits4Causes, and Bundesliga writer