Arminia Bielefeld won 2-0 against VfL Bochum after a dominant performance. The second win of the season keeps the East Westphalians in touch with the rescue bank.
Bielefeld’s motto against Bochum was “no losing” in order to stay in touch with the rescue zone. Arminia coach Frank Kramer made three changes to the first eleven in this endeavour and after the 0:2 at Hertha: Andrade, Serra and Krüger started for Laursen (adductor problems), Kunze and Klos (both on the bench). VfL coach Thomas Reis, who has been strong with his Bochum side recently, rotated twice in the back four compared to the 1:1 against Borussia Dortmund: Gamboa defended at right back for Stafylidis, Lampropoulos replaced Leitsch in the centre of defence.
The fact that Arminia had something in mind against Bochum was evident from the start. Not like last time against Hertha, Bielefeld came out of the dressing room with a lot of pressure this time, but after ten minutes and no decisive scoring chances, Bochum got a grip on the game.
Losilla and Masovic invite Bielefeld
Much of the action took place in midfield, with both teams struggling to get forward in their own possession. Thus, individual mistakes had to be made in order to create goal chances. The VfL made two in a short period of time, but both Schöpf (21.) and Wimmer (23.) could not convert the bad misses by Losilla and Masovic into a goal.
Holtmann almost punished Bielefeld’s negligence after a counterattack, but Ortega Moreno made a strong save with his foot in the one-on-one (37th). Since Bielefeld’s last effort before the break was not decisive, the game went into the dressing room goalless.
Okugawa and Wimmer redeem Arminia
After the restart, Arminia continued to dominate the game and were rewarded after 51 minutes: Wimmer crossed precisely to the head of Okugawa, who beat Gamboa and headed into the right corner. Bochum failed to respond, but Bielefeld kept the pressure on. Although the home side also made many mistakes in their forward play, they were much more present in the duels. Thus, the 2:0 by Wimmer was okay, although Bochum’s usually so safe keeper Riemann had a big part in it: The sharp shot of the Austrian slipped through his fingers, the ball fell into the right corner (69.).
Bockhorn had the chance for a direct answer (70th), but the joker failed and Bochum could not come up with anything more. Arminia defended all long balls in the final phase and thus managed to keep the 2-0 lead.
Bielefeld can now breathe a sigh of relief in the fight to stay in the relegation zone and will now face RB Leipzig on Saturday (3.30 pm). After three games without defeat, VfL have to admit defeat again and will host Union Berlin at the same time on Saturday.