A bitter 2-0 defeat

For 1899 the wait continues for a derby victory against VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. Holger Stanislawski's side enjoyed a promising opening to the game, but Stuttgart were able to produce the necessary quality to win the match 2-0 and move into the top half of the table.

Stanislawski was without Sebastian Rudy, who sustained an adductor problem whilst in action for the Germany U21s this week, as well as Tobias Weis and Matthias Jaissle - three ex-Stuttgart players, incidentally. Dominik Kaiser, Fabian Johnson and Sejad Salihovic came in to replace them.

Explosive opening period

The game got off to a flying start. Hoffenheim made most of the early running, until Stuttgart striker Cacau had the ball in the net, only for the linesman to correctly rule it out for offside (4). The next noteworthy opportunity also fell to the home side. On 18 minutes, Tamas Hajnal tested Tom Starke with a shot from distance, which the Hoffenheim stopper was more than equal to. At the other end, Ryan Babel produced the first moment of real quality from Hoffenheim, when his fizzing shot was pushed round for a corner by Sven Ulreich. And after half an hour, Babel again cause problems for the Stuttgart defence when he danced into the box and set up Gylfi Sigurdsson, but the Icelandic international shot well wide from a good position.

TSG's slow start to the second half

The second had had barely begun when TSG fell behind to a strike from Stuttgart's Shinji Okazaki. The defence seemed to part like the waves and let the Japanese midfielder advance on goal, which he duly did, and his shot gave Starke no chance (48). To their credit, Hoffenheim responded immediately and almost forced an equaliser when Roberto Firmino was played in by Babel, but his shot was kept out by Ulreich. On the hour-mark, Stanislawski made two attacking substitutions, bringing on Knowledge Musona for Chinedu Obasi and Vedad Ibisevic for Daniel Williams. The changes nearly paid instant dividends as Musona's header was turned in by Ibisevic. The Bosnian was, however, standing in an offside position and the goal was ruled out (70). The away side were then cruelly punished on the break, as Pavel Pogrebnyak burst into the box following a swift break, and was caught by 1899 captain Andreas Beck. Referee Babak Rafati had no choice but to point to the spot. Pogrebnyak dusted himself down and converted his sot-kick with aplomb (70).

The wait goes on

After conceding a second goal, Hoffenheim looked visibly deflated and could have gone further behind, but for a poor miss by Cacau when one-on-one with Tom Starke. Substitute Sven Schipplock, and defender Marvin Commper, both had further efforts to reduce the deficit for the away side, but it was a case of a poor final pass for TSG today. VfB proved the more ruthless in front of goal and Hoffenheim's wait for a Bundesliga win in this fixture goes on.

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