TSG miss chance to win

After last week's important victory over SpVgg Greuther Fürth, TSG manager Marco Kurz made only one change to his side, bringing in David Abraham for Matthieu Delpierre at centre back.

After a respectful opening ten minutes, Hoffenheim attempted to assert themselves as Kurz's men looked full of the confidence they rediscovered in last week's comprehensive victory. Unfortunately, the final pass fell just short of an attacking teammate, which made early goal chances hard to come by. Hoffenheim nearly conceded their 20th set-piece goal of the season shortly afterwards though, as the guests improved. A deep free kick was flicked on accidently by Daniel Williams and Nikolce Noveski had a chance to head at goal but his effort hit the post.

Having seen off Mainz's first wave, Hoffenheim restarted their search for the opening goal. Stephan Schröck's chest control in the area was fantastic but his effort was blocked, as was Volland's drive seconds afterwards. Joselu got a tame touch to a cross before Andreas Ivanschitz fired just over from range as the game opened up. With the game being more even, possession was exchanged more often and that made genuine goal chances at just as much of a premium as they were in the opening ten minutes.

As the second half started, it increasingly looked like the first goal of the game would prove to be the winner. Hoffenheim nearly found it only a minute into the second half but they just couldn't get the ball out from under their feet in time. The home side were pushing and were playing with a much higher tempo than the visitors. Joselu's pass into the centre was centimetres away from finding Kevin Volland as the opening goal continued to prove elusive. After a free kick on the edge of the area went for a corner, Tobias Weis fired over in search of his second Bundesliga goal.

With the home side threatening so much, Mainz were being left behind. However, a drilled effort across goal gave them a corner and Noveski missed a real chance to give Mainz an undeserved lead. As the time ticked away, both sides became increasingly nervous of conceding. Pospech curled an effort onto the corner of the goal frame before Heurelho Gomes made a good save to deny Shawn Parker from close range.

The final ten minutes were nervy for both sides but some stubborn defending denied both sets of strikers the chance to pounce. Joselu guided a header goalwards from an Ochs cross but Wetklo saved comfortably. In the end, the draw was a fair representation but Hoffenheim will have felt that the three points were there to win, particularly in the first half.

It's FC Schalke 04 next for Hoffenheim and they travel to Gelsenkirchen on Saturday, March 30th for a 15.30 CET kick off knowing that a point from the game is a must.

Jonathan Harding

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim:Gomes – Ochs, Abraham, Vestergaard, Beck – Weis (77' Polanski), Williams – Schröck (59' Usami), Volland (83' de Camargo), Firmino – Joselu

1. MSV Mainz 05:Wetklo – Bell, Noveski, Svensson, Pospech – Baumgartlinger, Zimling (78' Malli) – Müller, Ivanschitz (63' Ede), Parker – Szalai (84' Choupo-Moting)

Yellow cards: Ochs, Vestergaard - Wetklo
Attendance: 24,500
Referee: Robert Hartmann

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