Arminia Bielefeld finally won a game in the 2. Bundesliga this season at the eleventh attempt, with Andreas Voglsammer grabbing a deserved winner from the bench against SV Sandhausen.

In what was Carsten Rump’s first league match as interim coach, the hosts dominated the game, with Voglsammer’s goal coming after Manuel Junglas had a penalty saved by Marco Knaller in the first half.

Sandhausen had threatened little, but Wolfgang Hesl made a vital save from José Pierre Vunguidica in stoppage time to seal that all-important first victory.

Both sides victorious in Pokal

Both sides were coming off the back of victories in the DFB-Pokal in midweek. Bielefeld had sacked Rüdiger Rehm following their heavy 4-0 defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf last week, however Rump guided them to a 1-0 victory over Dynamo Dresden on Tuesday night.

Rump stuck with almost the same side that beat Dresden, with only Stephan Salger, who was sent off against Düsseldorf, missing out through suspension. Brian Behrendt was recalled.

Meanwhile Sandhausen, who are going better in the league with two wins in their last three, caused a major shock, overcoming Bundesliga side SC Freiburg on penalties, having sacrificed a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 in normal time.

They made six changes from that game, but just three changes from their 3-0 win against FC St. Pauli last Saturday. Markus Karl came in for the suspended skipper Stefan Kulovits, whilst Moritz Kuhn and Richard Sukuta-Pasu replaced the injured duo of Korbinian Vollmann and Andrew Wooten.

Knaller denies Junglas from the spot

Bielefeld were much the better chance in the first half. Early chances fell to Florian Hartherz, whose shot was put wide by Knaller, whilst Christoph Hemlein had his cross headed wide by Fabian Klos.

Sandhausen looked as though they were missing Wooten up front and feeling the effects of the Freiburg game, and they threatened little at the other end. Karl came closest, with an initial shot blocked and a second deflected wide.

With both sides making mistakes up the pitch, the action was petering out, but then Klos won a penalty for the hosts. He came together with Knaller, who had his hands round the forward, but perhaps not in a way that would be enough to force him down.

In the event it remained 0-0. The Sandhausen keeper made sure of it, guessing the right way to keep out the penalty from Junglas.

Bielefeld had big appeals for another penalty soon after. The ball had clearly gone into the arm of Daniel Gordon, but he had attempted to get out of the way, and it was rightly not given.

Voglsammer ends Bielefeld’s winless run

There was another penalty appeal against Gordon after the break as well, and it might just have been more a penalty than the one that was given. He made an honest attempt to head the ball, but misjudged it and took out Klos in the process. Again, it wasn’t given.

Bielefeld were still having all the chances, with Sebastian Schuppan putting a free kick over, and Klos going mightily close, with a shot across goal just going wide.

There was a big blow for Bielefeld when Hemlein had to be stretchered off following that chance, but that just paved the way for Voglsammer to make his mark. Thirteen minutes after he came on, they had a corner. Gordon tried to head clear, but instead the ball fell to Voglsammer, who fired in.

It looked like they would safely see it out, but right at the death Sandhausen had one chance to snatch an undeserved point. Vunguidica almost put in Phillip Klingmann’s cross, but Hesl showed he was alert with a match-winning save with his foot.

And there were big celebrations in the SchücoArena on the final whistle, relief all round after a tough start to the season. The win doesn’t lift them out of the bottom two, but they are now three points clear of St. Pauli, who don’t play until Monday.