A solitary strike from Daniel Caligiuri was enough for Wolfsburg to see off a spirited Darmstadt side on Saturday.
Both teams made just one change from their respective previous games. Jan Rosenthal dropped out for Marco Sailer following Darmstadt's 2-0 win in Augsburg, while Vieirinha made a long-awaited return to the starting eleven in place of Daniel Caligiuri after he came on during the Wolves' midweek victory against PSV.
Strong first half for the hosts
It was a slow start to the game, with both teams trying to exploit wide areas in the search of supremacy. Eventually, though, those crosses began to look more and more dangerous before Wolfsburg had the first meaningful effort on goal.
After a ball into the box wasn't cleared fully by Darmstadt, Bas Dost recycled the ball and set up Julian Draxler for an attempt on goal. Their marqee signing lined a shot up from range, and curled mere inches over Christian Mathenia's goal.
The hosts responded quickly and forced Diego Benaglio into a fine save, as he tipped over Konstantin Rausch's way-ward corner. A header from the resulting set-piece also went close, as the game wore on towards half-time.
Wolves steal a win late on
The opportunity of the half came to the Lilies, who were holding their own despite constant pressure from Wolfsburg. Marcel Heller went on another one of his mazy runs, which saw him go past three defenders before driving the ball across goal. Unfortunately for Darmstadt, Rausch couldn't quite direct the ball on target at the back post.
The second half began as the first ended, with Draxler going twice on two occassions before Sandro Wagner's mazy almost ended in a spectacular goal. Peter Niemeyer and Dante also had chances, though they too couldn't make them count.
Dost then threatened with his head before Caligiuri eventually opened the scoring. The Italian struck a powerful shot from the edge of the area, with a slight deflection taking it past Christian Mathenia and sealing all three points for the visitors.