Hoffenheim winless in six

Though Hoffenheim began aggressively in attack, it took until the 15th minute for Vedad Ibisevic to get his first sniff of goal, the Bosnian striker failing to beat Köln keeper Faryd Mondragon after being played through by the impressive Chinedu Obasi. The guests maintained a defensive approach to the tie, managing just two shots goal in the first half and posing little threat to Daniel Haas in the Hoffenheim goal.

However, the second half began with a sucker punch for the 1899 boys. Adam Matuschyk tried his luck from all 30 yards and found the top corner superbly just a minute after the restart. Shocked, Hoffenheim struggled to find a way back into the match with Köln defending stoutly throughout. The hosts' biggest chance of an equaliser came 15 minutes before the end, Ibisevic again the beneficiary of some clever preparatory play from Obasi, but the 25-year-old could only volley over the bar. Sejad Salihovic headed another Obasi cross over from close range shortly afterwards, but that was as close as 1899 came.

The visitors took full advantage, sewing up the points nine minutes from time with Matuschyk again the scorer. The Köln midfielder strolled through the Hoffenheim half unchallenged before calmly placing past Haas into the bottom left hand corner. Obasi, Ibisevic and Beck combined well late on to give the home fans one last reason to get off their seats, but again the Bosnian hitman was unable to find the target as 1899 now extend their winless streak to six games.

Quotes

Lukas Podolski
There would have been a lot of pressure on us today if we hadn't got the win. We played well and kept things tight at the back. That's our main strength at the moment.

Christian Eichner
The first goal came as a major shock. We didn't play well at all after conceding.

Ralf Rangnick
We're hugely disappointed. We played well in the first half and didn't let them through, but unfortunately we were unable to find the target. We have learned a lot from the past few weeks but we didn't create many chances again today and those we did create, we didn't make the most of. The first goal they scored had an element of deja-vu about it. Towards the end Ibisevic and Salihovic both had decent chances, but once they scored a second it was clear that we'd be on the losing side once again.

Zvonimir Soldo
We took a hiding in the first game so we wanted some revenge for that. You could sense the lack of confidence on both sides, neither of us have been in great form of late. We scored at just the right time. All credit to Adam Matuschyk, he scored two great goals, and to the rest of the team as well. It was a step forward.

Match facts and statistics »