An Aziz Bouhaddouz hat-trick and an inspired Marco Thiede helped Sandhausen to a deserved and convincing 4-0 win over RB Leipzig.

Leipzig were edging towards the end of the season, after a defeat to St. Pauli essentially ended their chances of promotion. Benjamin Bellot for Fabian Coltorti (injured), Dominik Kaiser and Omer Damari came in for Tim Sebastian (suspended) Georg Teigl (injured)

Despite being safe thanks to their impressive unbeaten run earlier in the Rückrunde, Sandhausen's immediate form was of slight concern for Alois Schwartz. The Sandhausen head coach did, however, remain faithful to a largely similar starting line-up and only Steven Zellner came in for Solomon Okoronkwo.

Bellot, who had filled in for Coltorti at the start of the season, showed just how promising he was with a top stop early on. The young stopper somehow managed to turn away Marco Thiede's top-corner-bound point-blank volley, something which had the Sandhausen forward scratching his head in disbelief.

Emil Forsberg nearly brought Leipzig ahead, in what was a slow burning first half. Unfortunately for Zellner, his first start for Sandhausen was to be short lived. The midfielder picked up and injury and had to be replaced after just twenty minutes.

Thiede wasn't to be denied a volleyed goal at the second time of asking, however. Leipzig failed to deal with a long throw-in and the ball fell to Sandhausen's number seven, who confidently controlled, spun and shot into the bottom corner in the blink of an eye. Bellot was left to watch as the ball nestled in the bottom corner, helpless after his defence failed to pick up the goalscorer.

The second-half was similarly tight until a lightning quick breakaway provided a second goal for Sandhausen. Thiede picked the ball up in his own half and drove at the Leipzig defence, twisting and turning every way before striking the post with a twenty-yard drive. Luckily for the hosts, the rebound came straight to Aziz Bouhaddouz and he gleefully tapped in his seventh goal of the season.

Things got even better five minutes later for the visitors, as Bouhaddouz slid home his second goal of the game. Thiede was involved once again, unsurprisingly, as he crossed for the Dutch forward to secure the three points. It deflected off a Leipzig head and fell perfectly for Bouhaddouz, who made no mistake in prodding past Bellot.

Leipzig were looking shell-shocked and Bouhaddouz took full advantage to complete his hat-trick. He was played in by Andrew Wooten's headed pass, then calmly chipped over the onrushing Bellot to add the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake.

Sandhausen played down the clock and secured the three points, further compounding Leipzig's misery but keeping them on course for a fantastic season.

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About the author
Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]