Nils Quaschner's strike was enough to secure a 1-1 draw for VfL Bochum against Eintracht Braunschweig, who had gone behind to Domi Kumbela's finish.
Team news
Gertjan Verbeek made three changes to the side that was beaten 2-1 by Greuther Fürth before the break as Quaschner, Anthony Losilla and Alexander Merkel all earned starting berths in place of Russell Canouse, Görkem Saglam and Tom Weilandt.
As for Braunschweig and Torsten Lieberknecht, he opted for two alterations from the derby day draw with Hannover 96. Joesph Baffo and Maximilian Sauer were the two men included from the start as Patrick Schönfeld and Gustav Valsvik dropped out.
Goal or no goal?
After a less than promising run to the international break, Bochum looked refreshed and ready to get at the league-leaders early on. There was plenty of running down either wing and a clever pass from Merkel released Peniel Mlapa into the channel, onto to see his shot ruffle the side netting.
The home side continued to look stronger and were the only team capable of stringing together anything like a meaningful move. The first major chance fell their way and Quaschner, though he couldn't get a clean contact on a bobbling ball after Johannes Wurtz's clever cross towards the near post.
Verbeek's men were then remonstrating with Christian Dietz and the linesman, after Tim Hoogland felt he had opened the scoring. His header was somehow pulled away from goal in incredible fashion by Jasmin Fejzic, although it was not clear as to whether the ball had crossed the line or not.
Neither side could force another chance before the break and the intense midfield battle continued to rage, as both went into half-time locked at nil-nil.
Quaschner rescues a deserved point
The flow of the game did not change after the restart and Bochum continued to heap pressure on the visitors. Fejzic again was on hand to deny the Ruhr side an opening goal as he got a foot to Felix Bastians' close-range effort. Braunschweig did finally fashion a chance of their own, though Manuel Riemann collected Nik Omladic's free-kick.
Despite being the better side for the entire game, the hosts would fall behind after being caught out from a counter. Onel Hernandez's burst of pace down the channel took him away from the Bochum back-line and a fine cut-back left Kumbela with the simple task of tapping past the scrambling Riemann.
Verbeek's men fought tooth and nail to get back into the game and after Kumbela went close again, Mlapa struck the base of the post before Marco Stiepermann shot over.
Finally, it clicked and the ball bounced the way of the men in blue. A free-kick from deep was headed straight up into the air by a throng of bodies before dropping to Quaschner. With Fejzic out of position, he struck at goal and the ball went in off Baffo's leg to steal a point and maintain Bochum's unbeaten home record.