Tagoe double secures the points for Hoffenheim

Ralf Rangnick chose the same side that beat Hamburg 5-1 last week, though Timo Hildebrand, Demba Ba, Per Nilsson, Andreas Ibertsberger and Matthias Jaissle all remained sidelined. Isaac Vorsah returned to the squad following his long-term knee injury.
The first real chance of the game at the Commerzbank Arena fell Hoffenheim's way as Sejad Salihovic crossed for Vedad Ibisevic, the Bosnian's header skimming narrowly wide. The hosts had better luck with their first effort, Pirmin Schwegler firing a swerving long-range strike past Daniel Haas for the opener on 20 minutes.

Not to be deterred, Hoffenheim began the second half well and seized the initiative in attack, Chinedu Obasi striking the post with a header from another Salihovic cross. Two minutes later and Salihovic was again involved as the Nigerian was foiled again by Frankfurt keeper Fährmann, while at the other end Patrick Ochs saw his goalbound strike cleared off the line by Joe Simunic.

With a quarter of an hour to go, coach Rangnick pulled off a tactical masterstroke by introducing Prince Tagoe and Maicosuel to proceedings. Within three minutes of the ouble substitution, Tagoe had netted the equaliser by finishing off a Maicosuel pass, and two minutes from the end the big Ghanaian rounded off a superb afternoon for himself and Hoffenheim as he took advantage of some hesitant defending from Chris before lofting over Fährmann and into the net.

Quotes

Prince Tagoe
I'm very happy with the goals and I'm pleased that Ralf Rangnick gave me the chance. Finally I could repay the team, the coach and the fans for all their support.

Andreas Beck
We played well. After a turbulent start, we managed to find out feet and pick up an important away win for our confidence.

Christian Eichner
We performed well. We had a few difficulties at the start but then we fought our way back into the game and deserved to turn the game in the second half.

Michael Skibbe
We put in another energetic performance today, so it was particularly bitter to come away with nothing. We had a string of chances to win the game, but individual mistakes cost us in the end.

Ralf Rangnick
Aside from the first 20 minutes, I thought we put in a very good away performance. We worked hard defensively and created several chances. I think it was a deserved victory based on the our chances and possession.

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