Bundesliga
Stuttgart's long search for an away win finally reached its end in Bochum, where goals from Hiroki Ito, Josha Vagnoman and Serhou Guirassy gave Die Schwaben a crucial victory in the battle to beat the drop.
Bochum 2-3 VfB Stuttgart
Goals: 0-1 Ito 14', 1-1 Stöger (pen.) 58', 1-2 Guirassy 60' (assist: Sosa), 1-3 Vagnoman 63' (assist: Millot), 2-3 Hofmann 85' (assist: Förster)
Prior to Wednesday's DFB Cup quarter-final win against Nuremberg, Stuttgart were winless in five Bundesliga games, losing four. The question for the visitors was, could Sebastian Hoeneß's arrival to take over from Bruno Labbadia at the VfB helm aid the Swabians' survival hopes just as it had their Cup ambitions. The early signs were good for the visitors, who hit the front through a superb strike from Ito. When Borna's Sosa's cross from the left was only half cleared by the Bochum defence, the Japanese defender watched the ball all the way before swiping it - left-footed - with such power that its trajectory bamboozled goalkeeper Manuel Riemann before hitting the net. The new manager bounce having momentarily lifted Stuttgart off the bottom of the standings, Bochum - still very much involved in the fight for survival - now needed a response. A Takuma Asano header aside, however, there was little for the home fans to cheer about in the opening 45 minutes.
That would change after the restart, but not before Vagnoman took on all comers inside the Bochum box only to see his shot deflected out by Riemann. Desperate for a way back into the game, Thomas Letsch's team had one when Enzo Millot dragged Philipp Förster back in the home area. Kevin Stöger's cool spot-kick - which sent Fabian Bredlow the wrong way - might have signalled a shift in momentum. The visitors were in no mood to hang around to find out, though. At the second attempt, Sosa flashed a delicious outside-of-the-boot cross that beat the Bochum defence and landed perfectly for Serhou Guirassy to turn home from close range. The away celebrations had barely settled when Stuttgart had a third, Vagnoman heading in after Riemann flapped at air following Millot's centre. Stöger drew a fine stop from Bredlow thereafter while Philipp Hofmann's late slide in at the far post offered home hope. In the end, however, the day would belong to Hoeneß's side, whose shot at survival received a considerable boost here.
Bochum: Riemann - Stafylidis (Holtmann 65'), Ordets, Masovic, Soares - Stöger (Broschinski 79'), Losilla (c) (Kunde 88'), Osterhage (Förster 46') - Asano, Hofmann, Antwi-Adjei
Unused subs: Esser, Zoller, Janko, Heintz, Schlotterbeck
Out: Gamboa (knee)
Coach: Thomas Letsch
Stuttgart: Bredlow - Mavropanos, Anton, Ito - Vagnoman, Endo (c), Karazor, Millot (Haraguchi 70'), Sosa (Zagadou 90'+3) - Guirassy (Pfeiffer 70'), Führich (Silas 76')
Unused subs: Müller, Coulibaly, Tomas, Perea, Stenzel
Out: -
Coach: Sebastian Hoeneß