1860 Munich's 1000th 2. Bundesliga goal proved to be enough to secure a 1-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.

The Allianz Arena was bathed in sun as Stefan Aigner scored the historic goal in his first home game since rejoining the club.

1860 switch things up, Bielefeld stay similar

Kosta Runjaic was keen to shake up the side that lost to Greuther Fürth last week, and did so with three changes. Maximilian Wittek, Michael Liendl and Daylon Claasen all earned a starting berth at the expense of Marnon Busch, Fanol Perdedaj and Stefan Mugosa.

On the other hand, there was just one alteration made by Rüdiger Rehm; the injured Manuel Prietl was replaced by Manuel Junglas.

Dull and drab first half

It was a rather poor start to the game, where quality was massively lacking in the final third. Aigner and Claasen had chances to break down the Bielefeld defence but lacked the killer ball. Aigner especially managed to get in behind the opposition back-line and into menacing positions, yet always managed to find a defender's boot.

For all the Lions' pressure, it was the men from Nord-Rhein Westfalen that had the most meaningful chances of the half. Sebastian Schuppan headed over the bar from Tom Schütz's corner, but the best opportunity fell to Tomasz Holota. He failed to take full advantage of an Andreas Voglsammer cut-back and fired wide of an open goal.

The remainder of the half consisted of a series of nitty, gritty fouls and very little else. Three yellow cards were dealt out by Sven Jablonski in the final 10 minutes of the first period, in what was an accurate summary of the 45 minutes as a whole. Just before the half-time whistle Schuppan was replaced by Florian Hartherz due to injury.

Aigner's classy finish proves the difference

Any hopes of a change in fortunes for either side after the break were quickly rubbished. The tussle continued to lull back and forth with neither side seemingly fussed on going forward or, more importantly, winning the game. Unsurprisingly, the cynical nature to any fouls did continue.

Both managers made changes on the hour mark as Runjaic called Fanol Perdedaj on to replace the injured Filip Stojkovic, while Rehm was also forced to bring on a right-back reinforcement; Schütz was unable to continue, handing Christoph Hemlein a chance.

It was another substitute, Hartherz that would prove to make a crucial mistake and decide the game. A long ball forward from Perdedaj was flicked into Claasen, who superbly turned the ball to Aigner. It looked like a simple clearance for Hartherz, but the 1860 forward stole ahead and finished superbly to give his side the lead.

The final stages were tight and tense, with 1860 keen to not let Biefeled and specifically Fabian Klos - who they had managed to mark out of the game - get a sniff at goal. Instead it was Holota who had the chance to grab a dramatic draw late on, though Jan Zimmermann was equal to his near post drive.

That aside, it was a relatively comfortable final 20 minutes for the Lions and they earned their first win of the season as a result. As for Bielefeld and Rehm, the wait continues for his first competitive victory in charge.

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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]