Relegation-threatened VfL Bochum scored once in either half to stun Union Berlin 2-1 on Sunday, leaving the Bundesliga leader with only a slim gap at the top and bagging a second win of the season to move off the bottom of the table.
Union, with the league’s best backline before the game, suffered only its second loss of the season and conceded more than one goal for only the second match in this campaign.
Philipp Hofmann’s glancing header two minutes before the break put Bochum in front as Union struggled to string together a decent play with the hosts’ high pressing game proving a major problem for Urs Fischer’s team.
Union’s Milos Pantovic whipped a shot just wide on the hour mark but it was Bochum, who had also hit the woodwork early in the second half, who scored again.
This time it struck on the break with Gerrit Holtmann completing the lightning-quick passing move, tapping in from a Christopher Antwi-Adjei assist.
Pantovic had another chance to put Union back in the game but the former Bochum player’s 78th-minute penalty was parried by keeper Manuel Riemann. The Serbian did eventually score, deep in stoppage time, with a powerful shot.
Union remains in top spot on 23 points, one ahead of champion Bayern Munich. Freiburg is third on 21.
Bochum’s second win of the season lifted it off last place and into 17th on seven points. Schalke 04, which sacked coach Frank Kramer on Wednesday, dropped to bottom place following its 2-1 defeat at Hertha Berlin courtesy of Wilfried Kanga’s 88th-minute winner.
There was more good news for Hertha, which is in 13th, with winger Jean-Paul Boetius making a comeback after his testicular cancer diagnosis in September.
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