Hofmann sparkles as Gladbach beat Bochum

Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 Bochum
Goals: 1-0 Plea 12' (assist: Scally), 2-0 Hofmann 40' (assist: Plea), 2-1 Blum (86')

Chests puffed following their swashbuckling 5-0 DFB Cup win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday, Gladbach began with a spring in their step and had four shots at goal inside the first six minutes. That pressure proved too much for the Bochum rearguard to withstand and the Foals took the lead on 12 minutes when Scally’s pinpoint cross from the right picked out Plea in the middle, and the Frenchman guided a header past Manuel Riemann. Plea was involved again when Gladbach extended their lead shortly before the interval, holding the ball up well in the box before flicking it to the on-rushing Hofmann, who lashed in his team’s second goal with a smart finish across Riemann.

The match followed a similar pattern after the break, although Bochum did muster the first opening when Sebastian Polter was suddenly all alone in the box, but he checked his run instead of shooting, allowing Nico Elvedi to make a recovery tackle. That was one of just a smattering of sporadic moments of attacking menace from the visitors in the second half, with Vasileios Lampropoulos hitting a post with a header following a corner and Christopher Antwi-Adjei slicing wide with a snatched shot from 10 yards. The away side were otherwise on the back foot, though, as Plea fired wide from a Lars Stindl pass, and Lampropoulos needed to make a decisive intervention to clear another teasing cross from Scally into the box. Hofmann went close to scoring again when he rounded Riemann and shot from a tight angle, but Danilo Soares cleared off the line. Bochum managed to pull a goal back late on with a stunning direct free-kick from Danny Blum, before Sommer thwarted Milos Pantovic as the hosts deservedly took all three points.

• Yann Sommer made his 300th competitive outing for Gladbach in this game.
• Scally provided his first Bundesliga assist when he set up Plea's opener.
• The American teenager has started every league game in 2020/21, and finished all but one.
• Plea found the net for the second time this season with his third headed goal in the Bundesliga.
• Bochum conceded in the opening quarter of an hour for the first time in 2021/22.
• Hofmann is Gladbach’s four-goal top scorer so far this term.

Watch: Scally: "We need to continue our momentum"

Gladbach: Sommer - Scally, Elvedi, Ginter, Bensebaini - Zakaria, Kone (Neuhaus 69') - Hofmann, Stindl (c) (Thuram 69'), Plea (Wolf 82') - Embolo
Unused subs: Sippel, Herrmann, Netz, Benes, Müsel, Bennetts
Out: Beyer (muscular), Doucoure (Achilles), Jantschke (facial fracture), Kramer (thigh), Lainer (ankle)
Coach: Adi Hütter

Bochum: Riemann - Gamboa (Stafylidis 46'), Masovic, Lampropoulos, Soares - Löwen (Pantovic 77'), Losilla (c), Rexhbecaj - Asano (Antwi-Adjei 76'), Polter, Holtmann (Blum 46')
Unused subs: Esser, Osterhage, Chibsah, Novothny, Bella Kotchap
Out: Bockhorn (thigh), Leitsch (thigh), Tesche (hip), Zoller (knee)
Coach: Thomas Reis