One unlikely leader of the 2. Bundesliga replaced another, as Arminia Bielefeld dislodged SV Sandhausen following their 2-0 victory over VfL Bochum.
After three matches, Bielefeld are the only remaining team in the league to have won all their matches, doing so through first half goals from Andreas Voglsammer and Konstantin Kerschbaumer.
Bochum dominated much of the stats from this game, yet they were undermined by their inability to hit the target, with the hosts having to absorb heaps of pressure to secure another three points.
Bochum dominate but pay for mistakes
Both of these Westphalian rivals came out of the block quickly, with early opportunities for Voglsammer and Lukas Hinterseer. For the hosts, Voglsammer picked up a long ball but a poor touch saw it run to goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, before he put another chance just after over the bar. Hinterseer’s chance at the other end was a better one as he was given time to get into a central position with the ball, but he shot straight at Stefan Ortega.
Further chances came and went for Johannes Wurtz and Felix Bastians as Bochum proved a threat, but both sides were looking uncertain at the back and before taking the lead Bielefeld fired a warning shot, with Florian Hartherz firing over from the edge of the box, Ken Reichel-style.
Bielefeld would end up leading though thanks to two defensive calamities from the away side. For the first, a back pass from Bastians left Riemann a little uncertain and he ended up passing the ball straight to Manuel Prietl. He played it forward to Patrick Weihrauch, who took Riemann out of the equation with his sideways ball to Voglsammer, leaving him with an easy tap-in.
Bochum couldn’t muster up much in response and just over ten minutes later their defending was shown up again. Keanu Staude played a short corner on the left to Kerschbaumer, who looked to whip it into the box. It went over everyone though, slotting into the net at the far post. Surely at least one Bochum defender could have done something to deal with it.
The scoreline wasn’t showing the full story of the half, with Bochum having the greater possession and more shots but with nothing to show for it. Danilo Soares, who hadn’t looked certain posted on the right side of defence, did at least take matters into his own hands before the break, having a go with his left foot from the right-hand corner of the box, scrapping the bar with shot.
Bochum victims of their own wastefulness
They were certainly the more threatening side again after the break. Soares was proving a nuisance again, forcing two saved from Ortega including one from a free-kick. Hinterseer presented a good opportunity for Wurtz only for his effort to be blocked. More and more, Ismail Atalan’s side kept hitting brick walls with their attacks, substitute Thomas Eisfeld unable to help matters.
In a now rare foray forward for Bielefeld, Weihrauch, the one player who had been brought into their line-up from the DFB-Pokal defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf, had the chance to put the game well beyond the reach of Bochum but failed to take it. Voglsammer did excellently to wrestle the ball off Bastians on the by-line, only to see Weihruach put it wide, a poor effort.
Fabian Klos was having a quiet evening in an otherwise excellent evening for his side, but he also had the chance to put the game to bed, before shooting into the side netting. For Bochum, the situation was becoming increasingly desperate, with so many balls into the box going to waste and numerous efforts off target. As the final ten minutes rolled in, Jannik Bandowski crossed into Eisfeld who skied his effort well over, whilst Selim Gündüz at least gave Orteta a real test with a strong shot from distance, but the former 1860 Munich keeper was equal to it.
In the end they clocked up 23 attempts, of which only five were on target and none resulted in goals. The last attempt fell to Tim Hoogland, but he put it hopelessly wide, perfectly summing up their evening. It was party time in Bielefeld on the final whistle, as they topped the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in a long eight years.