Superb TSG thump sorry HSV

It didn't take long for 1899 to get things rolling; after an error from Mathijsen, Vedad Ibisevic was through on goal, and the Bosnian finished past Frank Rost to give TSG not only the perfect start, but also their 100th ever Bundesliga goal, a real milestone in the club's history

1899's talisman was at it again just nine minutes later, as he doubled his side's lead. Andreas Beck's cross was pinpoint, and Ibisevic nodded past Rost to make it 2-0 after just 11 minutes of play at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. TSG didn't want to to stop there though, as they made it three on 31 minutes. After indecision from Boateng and Rincon, Eichner took advantage, and squared the ball to Thomas Obasi- the Nigerian made HSV pay, and it was 3-0 at half time.

Robert Tesche temporarily stopped the rot for HSV with an absolute peach of a strike from outside the edge of the box on 65 minutes, but things turned back once more into HSV's favour shortly afterwards. This time it was Vukcevic who found Obasi on 73 minutes to fire his second goal of the afternoon past Rost, TSG's fourth goal of the afternoon. Things just kept getting better for 1899, as TSG's third Bosnian then got on the act to round off the scoring for the fifth goal. Ibisevic this time playing the ball to Sejad Salihovic to knock the ball past the static Rost for 5-1 on 76 minutes. Late on, Tolgay Arslan was sent off on 89 minutes, as HSV finished with ten men.

It was TSG's first win since the end of February, and sees them go up to 11th. It was the win that their recent performances had deserved, after a frustrating run of results; with end-of-season performances like this, Hoffenheim fans will have plenty to look forward to next season.

Quotes

Bruno Labbadia
It was an atrocious performance, and we never got into the game. I'm very disappointed about how we played. We wanted to really press on with our challenge for the Europa League spots. It's a very bitter moment, but we need to get it out of our system before we travel to Fulham.

Ralf Rangnick
We wanted to continue to build after the solid performance against Dortmund last week. The big difference in comparison to some of our other games was that we actually succeeded in going in the lead. We took the earlier goals magnificently, that really got us on our way. In the last two games we now have to continue to build.

Chinedu Obasi
It was an important win for the team. We put ourselves in this situation, and this was the best way of getting out of it.

Christian Eichner
It was decisive that we went in the lead. It took off a massive burden from the team, after scoring the first goal.

Vedad Ibisevic
We played freely today, as if there was no pressure, and we can finally stop thinking about the prospect of relegation. I'm very happy with both goals. It was great, because he havn'thad such a good game for a very long time.

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