Ibisevic ends drought as TSG beat the Foals

Head coach Holger Stanislawski made three changes to the team which lost away at Stuttgart last week. Fabian Johnson came back into the side to replace Domink Kaiser, Vedad Ibisevic got the nod ahead of Chinedu Obasi and Daniel Haas came in for the injured Tom Starke. “Our medical team advised me that I should rest for a few days after my concussion on Tuesday”, said Starke before the game. The 30-year-old was struck in the face by a ball from captain Andreas Beck in training. Sebastian Rudy and Sejad Salihovic were also unavailable for the game due to injury.

Chances for Hoffenheim

Gladbach started the game like a team occupying second place in the table. Attacking players Marco Reus and Juan Arango were finding space in the opening exchanges and tested Daniel Haas' goal early on, but Reus' snap-shot after four minutes missed target (4). The home side soon began to find their stride, however, and registered their first attempt on goal after a quarter of an hour. Ryan Babel nearly gave the home side the lead when he beat defender Tony Jantschke and powered down the line, but his cross was cleared from close range by keeper Marc André ter Stegen (19). The game then seemed to turn into a one-man battle involving the Bosnian Ibisevic. Fist he struck the far post with a superb shot from inside the box, and then his header was saved by Stegen just two minutes later (22). After yet another attempt from Ibisevic, showing how keen he was to get back into the habit of scoring goals, Borussia made it to half-time on level terms, having sat deeper and deeper and been content to hit their opponents on the counter-attack.

Ibisevic ends 331 goalless minutes

Both teams emerged unchanged from the dressing room for the second half, and, just as in the first half, the away side had the first opportunity. Oscar Wendt fed Patrick Herrmann in the centre of the box, but Daniel Haas was alert to parry his shot away from danger (46). Gylfi Sigurdsson, known for his goals from long range, nearly had another scorcher to add to his collection, but his speculative effort from distance missed the target by a couple of metres. Then came the goal, and a huge relief for the Hoffenheim faithful, after three difficult games in which Stani's side only managed to pick up a single point. Edson Braafheid made a surging run down the left and crossed into the middle, where that man Ibisevic was on hand to convert from eight yards out (56), Hoffenheim's first goal in three. Stanislawski brought on fresh blood in the form of Knowledge Musona and Obasi (on for Johnson and Firmino respectively). He was obviously hoping to kill the game with a second goal, believing that his side's lead was too slender to hold out until 90 minutes. As it happened, Gladbach, despite some attacking substitutions of their own from manager Lucien Favre, were barely able to register an attempt at goal in the last few minutes of the game, let alone equalise. Sigurdsson nearly even added to the lead with a free-kick late on. Stoppage time passed with no real danger, and Hoffenheim eased out the game for a valuable three points.

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