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VfL Bochum ended a turbulent week with their first win of the season and is gaining hope in the Bundesliga relegation battle. Eight days after the lighter-throwing scandal in Berlin, the Bochum team defeated the struggling 1. FC Heidenheim 2-0 (2-0) in the basement duel. With goals from Moritz Borschinski (7th) and Matus Bero (38th), the bottom of the table reduced the gap to Heidenheim, who were in 16th place, to four points.
It was the seventh league defeat in a row for Heidenheim, who had just missed out on reaching the round of 16 in a 1-1 draw against FC St. Gallen in the Conference League on Thursday evening. And since the competitors won on the last matchday before the winter break, coach Frank Schmidt’s team’s lead shrank from five to two points in a direct relegation zone. For Bochum, however, a dry spell of 15 competitive games without a win ended in front of 24,328 spectators – and it was a reconciliatory end to a turbulent week shortly before Christmas.
The lighter-throwing scandal surrounding goalkeeper Patrick Drewes in the game at Union Berlin, whose outcome (1:1) will be decided by the DFB sports court on January 9th, had an impact on the Revierclub for days. But the 31-year-old goalkeeper didn’t show any signs of it on the pitch. Drewes, who was hit by a thrown lighter the day before and then had to leave the field and miss several days of training, played 90 minutes against Heidenheim. The keeper saw how his front men set the course for their first win of the season early on.
After just six minutes, VfL striker Broschinski volleyed the ball into the goal after a cross from Ibrahima Sissoko to make it 1-0. Bochum’s defense chief Ivan Ordets had already missed the lead three minutes earlier, and Mathias Honsak had cleared his header from a corner in front of the line. With the lead behind them, the hosts dominated the game, but failed to add another goal after Broschinski’s first goal of the season. It was only in the final phase that Bero made it 2-0 at the break with his shot from around 15 meters. However, Heidenheim also had opportunities to equalize beforehand, but Honsak’s free kick (13′) landed over the goal, as did Patrick Mainka’s header (23′).
However, Heidenheim’s performance was weak overall, often disorganized in defense and discouraged and lacking in ideas on offense. Even after the break, during which coach Schmidt made three changes, there was no chance of catching up. The guests tried to build up pressure, but rarely came close to threatening the goal. Stefan Schimmer narrowly missed a cross from Omar Traoré (68th) and was denied by goalkeeper Drewes a minute later.
But because Heidenheim had to act more offensively, Bochum had chances to counterattack: But Bero (68′) shot the ball free-standing next to the goal and Broschinski’s (71′) shot was blocked. And despite a turbulent final phase with opportunities on both sides, in the end it was only two goals and the first win of the season for Bochum.