Bochum showed a mature performance in Augsburg for one half, acting purposefully and mercilessly exploiting FCA’s standard weakness. The basis for the 3:2 away win was laid at the dressing room, but it still got tricky at the end.
Pantovic, scorer of the winning goal in the 2-1 win over SC Freiburg, had announced after the game that Bochum would start to show off away from home in Augsburg – it was indeed to be.
The game began with a great opportunity for the visitors, with Esser replacing regular keeper Riemann (thigh problems) between the posts: Augsburg goalkeeper Gikiewicz kept the upper hand in a one-on-one with the quick-countering Holtmann (3rd).
FCA had a hard time against the determined and determined promoted team. There were only two dangerous moments before the break, each time after crosses with Hahn as the recipient: First, the substitute captain placed a volley on Esser (13th) after a cross from Framberger, who was nominated by Markus Weinzierl for Pedersen after the 1:1 at Hertha BSC, and later his header flew over the bar after Iago’s made-to-measure cross (28th).
Polter completes a counter-attack
At the time of Hahn’s second chance, it was already 1:0 for Bochum: Polter, who had just missed against a not very solid Augsburg defence after another straightforward attack (15.), was the beneficiary of Maier’s misplaced pass and Holtmann’s through pass and tunneled past the onrushing Gikiewicz (23.).
Bochum double strike before the break
Much remained piecemeal for the Fuggerstadters, and in many ways it got worse for the third-bottom side in the first half: Framberger and Zeqiri had to go off injured, and Gikiewicz had to make two saves against Bochum, who were eager to play: Holtmann scored with a drop-kick after a corner (40th) and Polter with a header (45.+2) – in both cases Löwen provided the assist.
The second half started with Moravek for Maier and a good header by Gregoritsch (51.)
Gregoritsch shortens – Moravek’s monster chance
The Austrian struck against a somewhat careless visitors defence a little later and nodded in Caligiuri’s corner (57th).
A double strike was a must, but Moravek missed the next FCA attack when he shot over the bar from three metres (58.).
Against Westphalia, who were now unimpressive offensively because they were mainly defensive, Weinzierl’s team kept the pressure on without getting into a promising position. This was the case for Bochum’s joker Pantovic, who missed the 4:1 goal in VfL’s first sign of life after the change (70.).
Augsburg continued to show great morale, coming close to the tying goal on a double chance (Vargas, Jensen, 72nd) in what was now a wild game, as did Gregoritsch (78th, Stafylidis cleared off the line) and Cordova (81st).
Caligiuri makes for exciting final minutes
On the other side, Ganvoula failed to clear Gikiewicz (82nd) before Caligiuri converted a penalty awarded to Niederlechner by Danilo Soares to make it 2:3 (86th). However, it was not enough for FCA, who Bochum have now distanced to six points with their second away win.
The next match for Augsburg is already next Friday (20.30) with an away game in Cologne. Bochum have one of the season’s highlights ahead of them the following day (3.30 p.m.) with a home match against Dortmund.
