With new old home strength, VfL Bochum draws hope again in the fight against relegation. In the ultimately happy 2-1 (2-0) against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Bundesliga penultimate celebrated their third win in a row in the Ruhr Stadium and reduced the gap to the saving bank to two points. Last year’s climber, who managed to stay up in the league mainly thanks to eight successes “anne Castroper”, started this season with three home defeats.
The Gladbachers, who are still waiting for their first away win, initially helped actively. Blatant defensive mistakes preceded the goals of Christopher Antwi-Adjei (7th) and Philipp Hofmann (12th), who made Bochum’s first home win against the Foals in 16 years perfect.
Alassane Pléa only managed to get the goal back (63′). 235 days after the cup throwing scandal with the game being abandoned at the last meeting at the same place, this time the focus was on sport – with Bochumers significantly improved under the new coach Thomas Letsch and disappointing Gladbachers.
“Of course that gives us a push. We just have to score points away from home as soon as possible,” said Bochum’s winning goal scorer Hofmann in the “Sky” interview, but was initially very satisfied: “We’re back in business.”
Because regular keeper Yann Sommer and substitute goalkeeper Tobias Sippel were out due to a training injury, Jan Olschowsky made his Bundesliga debut in the Borussia squad. The 20-year-old, who normally plays in the regional league, had to get the ball out of the net after just a few minutes. At first he thought Antwi-Adjei’s goal didn’t count because assistant referee Sven Waschitzki-Günther flagged offside. But according to video evidence, Bochum was allowed to cheer.
Just five minutes later, Olschowsky was beaten again – after a major mistake by Nico Elvedi, who had switched back to central defense after recovering from a cold. Hofmann used the bad pass from the Swiss in his own penalty area to make it 2-0. Letsch, who led Bochum to old home strength, also made two changes compared to the 3-0 defeat in the small district derby at Borussia Dortmund.
Bochum remains dangerous after the break
It took Gladbach almost half an hour to get into the game. Nevertheless, Bochum remained the more dangerous team, who tried again and again with long passes to the fast Antwi-Adjei. With a long-range shot, the 28-year-old narrowly missed making it 3-0 (41st). Hofmann had an even bigger chance just before the half-time whistle (45+1).
After the restart, Iwan Ordez hit the post with a header (52nd) – the hosts could have led higher a long time ago. So it got exciting again after the 1:2 by Plea. Another guest goal a few minutes before the final whistle didn’t count due to offside, to the delight of the Bochum players and fans.