Ibisevic fires Hoffenheim to victory

Hoffenheim manager Holger Stanislawski made three changes from the side which lost at Bayer Leverkusen last weekend. Jannik Vestergaard, Daniel Williams and Gylfi Sigurdsson were replaced by Sebastian Rudy, Roberto Firmino and Vedad Ibisevic, while Fabian Johnson was moved to left-back. Chinedu Obasi and Knowledge Musona were late withdrawals due to injury and illness respectively.

A cagey start

It was a cagey opening to the game in which the back fours of both sides were on top, and it took until the 16th minute for either side to register an effort at goal. It was the home side which had it, as Alexander Esswein went close with a header form 12 yards. But Hoffenheim came straight back and almost went ahead themselves on a number of occasions. Vedad Ibisevic was prevented from getting a shot away after a delightful one-two with Ryan Babel, and then saw a header roll agonisingly wide from Sebastian Rudy's cross (18, 20). The game passed withot too much incident, until Ibisevic put the away side into the lead shortly before half-time. Fabian Johnson ventured forward and found the Bosian with a precise cross, which he duly converted (39).

It was the striker's fourth of the season and the first headed goal that Hoffenheim have scored in the league this current campaign. The complexion of the game then changed again just before half-time, when Nürnberg were reduced to ten men. Timothy Chandler caught Sejad Salihovic with a late challenge and was shown a straight red card by referee Jochen Rees for dangerous play. 1899 went into the half-time break a goal and a man to the good.

Ibisevic on target again

Manager Holger Stanislawski opted against making any changes to his side for the second half, and, just five minutes after the restart, it was nearly 2-0 to 1899. Isaac Vorsah leapt tremendously to meet a cross from the impressive Salihovic, but could not prevent his powerful effort header sailing over the bar (50). Ibisevic also struck the side netting shortly afterwards, as Hofffenheim piled on the pressure (51). A second goal was needed to put some daylight between the two sides, and it arrived just before the hour-mark. Fabian Johnson, utilised at left-back today in place of the injured Edson Braafheid, again burst forward down the left and again managed to find Ibisevic with a clever pass into the box. This time he made no mistake, lashing in for his second of the game (56).

Nürnberg continued to toil away and manager Deter Hecking sent on Albert Bunjaku and Almog Cohen in search of a route back into the game. But the Hoffenheim defence looked solid throughout and, with a two-goal lead, had their opponents right where they wanted them. In the 75th minute, Ibisevic was replaced by Boris Vukcevic and left the field to rapturous applause from the travelling Hoffenheim fans.

Comfortable win

Stanislawski's side saw out the rest of the game with relative ease, securing a welcome and extremely satisfying three points. One slight blot on the copybook was the straight red card shown to defender Marvin Compper in the 90th minute, after he was adjudged to have brought down Tomas Pekhart as the last man.

With their third away win of the season yet their first victory in seven matches, confidence will now be high in the Hoffenheim camp for their next league fixture at home to Hertha BSC next Saturday.

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