Jovetic and Selke on target as Hertha beat Bielefeld

Hertha Berlin 2-0 Arminia Bielefeld
Goals: 1-0 Jovetic (assist: Belfodil) 53', 2-0 Selke 90'+5

Hertha began the day in 15th, two places but five points better off than their visitors, and they looked the far more likely to score in the first half. Niklas Stark saw a header from a Marvin Plattenhardt corner cleared early on, before Suat Serdar stung Stefan Ortega's gloves. Two chances down, Hertha had a third hooked off the line, Cedric Brunner saving the day for Bielefeld after Serdar had this time beaten Ortega. Ortega then stopped a thumping Vladimir Darida shot with his chest. The Old Lady thought they had the lead with half-time approaching when Jovetic beat Ortega at his near post, but the flag went up for offside, denying the Montenegrin what might have been a fifth goal of the Hinrunde.

Hertha didn't have to wait too long to open the scoring, though, Jovetic firing them into the lead seven minutes after the restart after Ishak Belfodil had helped Plattenhardt's cross into his path. Bielefeld's coach Frank Kramer sent Florian Krüger and Bryan Lasme into the fray just past the hour, and the attacking change nearly had the desired effect just minutes later, Krüger controlling well before sending a half-volley narrowly wide of Alexander Schwolow's post. Bielefeld threw caution to the wind for the final 15 minutes, with Patrick Wimmer in particular looking to penetrate the Hertha defence, but Hertha had the final say, Selke smashing home the second in injury time.

• Jovetic's six Hertha goals since swapping Monaco for the German capital have come in at a rate of one every 103 minutes he has played.
• Kevin-Prince Boateng is unbeaten in four games against Bielefeld (W2 D2), dating back to the 2005/06 and 06/07 seasons and his first spell with Hertha.
• Hertha came into this game with the lowest shot count in the league but had 10 on Bielefeld's goal compared to just five on their own.
• Bielefeld's 1-0 win at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 11 remains their only win of the season.
• This was Hertha's first win over Bielefeld since the first round of the DFB Cup in August 2015.
• Bielefeld remain second-bottom, although they have a nine-point cushion on Greuther Fürth and have just four points to make up on Stuttgart in the relegation play-off spot.

Watch: Stevan Jovetic - 'Hertha better than table suggests'

Hertha: Schwolow – Zeefuik, Boyata (c), Stark, Plattenhardt – Darida (Selke 88'), Ascacibar, Serdar (Ekkelenkamp 69') – Richter (Boateng 69'), Belfodil (Piatek 78'), Jovetic (Tousart 88')
Unused subs: Christensen, Maolida, Torunarigha, Jastrzembski
Out: M. Dardai (muscular), Jarstein (knee), Klünter (shoulder)
Coach: Tayfun Korkut 

Bielefeld: Ortega – Brunner, Pieper, Nilsson, Laursen (Andrade 71') – Prietl (c), Kunze (Krüger 61') – Wimmer (Serra 76'), Schöpf, Okugawa (Hack 76') – Klos (Lasme 61')
Unused subs: Kapino, Ramos, de Medina, Cherny
Out: Czyborra (appendicitis), Vasiliadis (not included)
Coach: Frank Kramer