Ten-man Hoffenheim held by struggling Paderborn
Paderborn - Struggling SC Paderborn 07 dropped into the Bundesliga's bottom two for the first time this season after being held to a goalless draw by ten-man TSG 1899 Hoffenheim at the Benteler-Arena.
Chances at both ends
The Sinsheim-based club spurned several good chances to break the deadlock in the first half, but the visitors’ cause wasn’t helped when Ermin Bicakcic was sent off for a second bookable offence after the restart. However, the visitors survived a late Paderborn onslaught to secure a deserved point.
Markus Gisdol’s side enjoyed the better goalscoring opportunities in an open start to the match, Bicakcic sending a close-range header into the arms of Paderborn keeper Lukas Kruse, before Eugen Polanski fired wide from the edge of the penalty area. Kevin Volland was next to test Kruse with another low drive, but die Kraichgauer almost fell behind against the run of play when Srdjan Lakic broke free on the right flank to unleash a powerful shot that flew just wide of Oliver Baumann’s upright.
Paderborn upped the ante at the beginning of the second half and Jin-Su Kim did well to deflect Lukas Rupp’s goal-bound effort wide of the target, before Alban Meha’s sent a 20-yard free-kick a yard over the crossbar. Hoffenheim were reduced to ten men midway through the second half when Bicakcic was shown a second yellow card for an overzealous tackle on Mario Vrancic, but Andre Breitenreiter’s side failed to make the most of their numerical advantage and drop into the automatic relegation spots.
Line-ups and statistics
