Kevin Volland (2. l) celebrated his first Bundesliga goal in a 3-2 home win for Hoffenheim against Schalke
Kevin Volland (2. l) celebrated his first Bundesliga goal in a 3-2 home win for Hoffenheim against Schalke

Schalke beaten, Nuremberg back on course

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Munich - Japanese international Atsuto Uchida's first ever Bundesliga goal was not enough for FC Schalke 04 as they fell to a 3-2 defeat in Hoffenheim. Elswhere, there were wins for Hannover 96 and 1. FC Nuremberg, while the game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and SC Freiburg ended all-square on Matchday 10.

1899 Hoffenheim 3-2 FC Schalke 04


Despite not having won any of their previous four matches, 1899 Hoffenheim looked confident from the start and could have taken the lead a good ten minutes into the game when Lars Unnerstall kept out Joselu's header. Kevin Volland did better shortly afterwards, however, opening the scoring after a blistering counter-attack from the home side.

Schalke tried to up the ante as the half progressed, yet found it difficult getting near the hosts' well-guarded goal. Jermaine Jones' and Christian Fuchs' long-range attempts went clearly over the bar near the half-hour mark, but their dominance paid off when Roman Neustädter nodded in Jefferson Farfan's corner to level matters before half-time (37').

Schalke dominant


Schalke clearly dictated the exchanges after the interval, but both Farfan and Ibrahim Afellay saw their attempts saved by Tim Wiese, while Jones headed the former's precise cross wide on the hour mark. Hoffenheim remained menacing, however, and were rewarded on one of their forays, when Volland was fouled in the box, allowing Roberto Firmino to slot home the resulting penalty.

Wiese then did well to keep Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's back-heeled attempt out, but he had no chance when Uchida fired the ball into the open goal (82'), seemingly guaranteeing a draw for the Royal Blues. However, in the dying stages, 1899's Sven Schipplock found himself through on goal to provide the sting in the tail and snatch Markus Babbel's side an unlikely three points.

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Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-1 SC Freiburg


A never-say-die SC Freiburg were spot on at Borussia Mönchengladbach with a Daniel Caligiuri penalty earning them a point.

While chances were at a premium in a largely uneventful first half, Gladbach looked the more threatening side, with Juan Arango at the heart of most of their promising play. The Venezuelan midfield maestro twice went close with free-kicks, and Thorben Marx and Patrick Herrmann both failed to get the better of Oliver Baumann from long range. Arango then went even closer, his volley forcing a brilliant reaction save from Baumann, before Max Kruse's cracker went just the wrong side of the post for Freiburg.

Lively second half


Both sides emerged for the second half rejuvenated, but it was the home team who struck the first blow as Igor de Camargo ghosted in unmarked at the far post to slot in from six yards. Freiburg's reaction was positive, but they seemed to lack ideas, with Jonathan Schmid and Caligiuri shooting wide from distance.

Lukas Rupp should twice have doubled their lead, missing an open goal after Hermann's skilful cross and then shooting just wide after a fine individual run. Yet Borussia proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot, as Arango fouled Oliver Sorg in the area and Caligiuri coolly converted the resulting penalty (77'). The midfielder could have even snatched a win, but he sent a swerving effort just wide before the final whistle.

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1. FC Nuremberg 1-0 VfL Wolfsburg


One reason for Nuremberg's recent slide down the table has been their lack of goals, but Timo Gebhart finally gave the 40,000 fans at the EasyCredit Stadium something to cheer about as his effort saw off VfL Wolfsburg. They were sloppy toward the beginning of the match, with Tomas Pekhart the main culprit, twice being denied by two excellent saves from Diego Benaglio in the Wolves’ goal.

There was not much to be seen from Wolfsburg in an attacking sense. Bas Dost, playing on his own up front, was often isolated when he received the ball as an extremely organised home side shut the opposition out in what was a first half decidedly low on goalmouth action.

Defences on top


The story of the game didn’t change after the break as both sides struggled to really test the opponents’ goalkeeper. Nuremberg went close to an opener through Gebhart and Timmy Simons, after two fantastic set-piece deliveries from Hiroshi Kiyotake, while Fagner’s drive from distance forced a good save from Patrick Rakovsky at other end.

Nuremberg had been the slightly more adventurous side going forward, though, and they were rewarded for their ambition when Gebhart eluded Fagner to head home. On the back of their poor run of results, three points were the priority for Nuremberg and they defended their goal with predictable determination for the final few minutes, as interim coach Lorenz-Günther Köstner suffered his first defeat in charge of the Wolves.

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Hannover 96 2-0 FC Augsburg


Mirko Slomka’s Hannover had been taken to in midweek, but they were by far the more energetic side in the early stages here. Just four minutes in, a flowing move involving Didier Ya Konan and Manuel Schmiedebach almost released the recalled Szabolcs Huszti, but the pass was behind him and a dangerous opportunity was wasted.

A Reds’ goal did not take long to arrive, however. Augsburg’s defence had looked shaky all afternoon and they were finally punished on 26 minutes when Marcel de Jong’s misjudgment allowed Mame Diouf to fire home from Lars Stindl’s excellent cross.

Scrappy affair


Augsburg were unbeaten in their previous two away matches, both 0-0 draws. Once behind against Hannover, however, they looked distinctly short on ideas to get themselves back into the game. Knowledge Musona and Tobias Werner were full of running on the wings, but the service to striker Torsten Oehrl was almost non-existent.

To be fair to both sides, the pitch, cutting up with every passing minute, did not lend itself to any sort of free-flowing football, and a scrappy affair was settled late on as Diouf turned provider for Stindl, allowing the midfielder to curl in a second and kill the Augsburg challenge for good.

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