A solitary strike from Simon Terodde was enough to give VfB Stuttgart a narrow but deserved win over 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
A very even opening period
The game was open from the very start at the Betzenberg, and it was the hosts who had the best openings in the early stages. Marlon Frey shot wide after some very good play, with Osayamen Osawe playing the key pass before the Bayer Leverkusen loanee skewed across goal. Not long after, Toni Sunjic did well to flick Osawe's effort over.
After that, Stuttgart became more lively and began to wake up across the board. Tobias Werner sent Alexandru Maxim's cut-back just wide of the far post after a slick team move, before Terodde took advantage of a poor Tim Heubach header to put Takuma Asano through on goal; he slid just past the post, however.
Maxim then had a chance of his own after good work from Asano through the middle, yet the Romanian could only fire high and wide on the angle. The remainder of the half saw both sides battle back and forth with little success.
Terodde gives Stuttgart a much-needed win
The breakthrough did come just after the restart, and it was Stuttgart's momentum that took them to that crucial opener. Emiliano Insua burst free down the left and crossed for Terodde in the middle, and the forward managed to take his tally to two for the season with a simple tap in from just a few yards out.
The Swabians took the lead from there and began to serious trouble their hosts. A wonderful piece of play by Maxim saw the diminutive attacking midfielder drift inside and round several Kaiserslautern defenders, then had his shot deflected just over the bar by Patrick Ziegler.
Jacques Zoua then almost sparked the equaliser, but it was agonisingly sent wide instead. He did well and started the move from deep, but his deflected cross wasn't connected with cleanly by Lukas Görtler. At the other end, another last-ditch block from Ziegler was required keep out Stuttgart and Terodde.
Görtler then fired narrowly past the post once more from range, in what was the final chance of the game for the hosts who stay bottom of the league. Stuttgart, on the other hand, climb to fourth.