Jordan Pefok continued his progression gelling with the Borussia Monchengladbach lineup as he contributed an assist in their win over Bochum. Elsewhere, Lennard Maloney continued his push for a possible call-up for the October friendlies as Heidenheim recorded a win over slumping Union Berlin.
Bochum 1-3 Borussia Monchengladbach
Borussia Monchengladbach did the damage in the first half and were able to hold on to their lead as they came away with all three points over Bochum at the Vonovia Ruhr Stadion.
Jordan Pefok started for the Foals and played 64 minutes as he completed 88 percent of his passes, won eight duels, and created three chances along with two shots on target. Joe Scally came off the bench to play 18 minutes.
The visitors broke the scoreless deadlock after 27 minutes when Alassane Plea’s low cross from the left side found Florian Neuhaus who made a late run into the box to put his past a flat-footed Manuel Riemann.
Plea would then turn from provider to goal scorer 10 minutes later when he was left unmarked at the far left post of Bochum’s goal to head the ball in from a Maximilian Wober corner kick. The Frenchman doubled his tally on the day in first-half stoppage time when Pefok fed him the ball to make a darting run in the 18-yard box and curl his shot around Riemann.
The chorus of boos at halftime by the Bochum supporters didn’t light a fire under the players as ‘Gladbach carried their momentum into the next interval although they couldn’t find any more goals.
The hosts pulled one back in the 68th minute when Anthony Losilla’s right-footed strike nestled into the left corner of the goal.
However, it was too little too late as the Foals claimed their first win of the season. That has moved the team up the standings to 13th place with five points.
Heidenheim 1-0 Union Berlin
A second-half free kick was all that Heidenheim needed as they held on for the slim win over Union Berlin at the Voith Arena.
Lennard Maloney started and played the entire game in a defensive midfield role, completing 82 percent of his passes and winning seven duels. On the other side, Brenden Aaronson was on the bench but did not play as Union’s slump continued.
Both sides had good chances to score in the first half but neither could find the back of the net as they headed to their respective dressing rooms at halftime to make adjustments.
The second half saw the visitors come agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock when Kevin Behrens headed the ball on target, but he was denied by the Heidenheim goalkeeper and then the post.
Then, in the 58th minute, Jan Beste finally scored the only goal of the game when his curling free-kick beat Union goalkeeper Frederik Ronnow to send the supporters wild.
That would be more than enough to send the Bundesliga debutants to their second win of the season.
Heidenheim has moved up to 10th place in the standings with seven points while Union Berlin is just below them in 11th with six.
Notes
John Brooks played 84 minutes as Hoffenheim saw their four-game winning streak snapped following a 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund. Gio Reyna was on the bench again for BVB as still waits to play his first minutes this season.
Two young Americans faced off as Kevin Paredes and Paxton Aaronson both came off the bench for their respective teams as Wolfsburg recorded a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
In the 2. Bundesliga, Johan Gomez played 82 minutes for Eintracht Braunschweig in their 1-0 loss to Hansa Rostock.
It was another substitute appearance for Maximilian Dietz as he played the final eight minutes for Greuther Further in their 1-1 draw with Elversberg.
Terrence Boyd is still trying to find his goal-scoring touch from last season as he came off the bench to play 14 minutes for Kaiserslautern as they shared the points with Osnabruck following a 2-2 draw.
Down in the 3. Liga, Ryan Malone went the distance as Ingolstadt blanked Ulm in a big 4-0 win.
Jalen Hawkins came off the bench to score a stoppage-time goal for Waldhof Mannheim in their 3-1 win over Freiburg II (video above).
Mael Corboz started as usual for Verl as they fell in a 1-0 loss to 1860 Munich.
Both Santiago Castaneda and Andrew Wooten started for their respective team as Duisburg and Preussen Munster shared the points following a 0-0 draw.
Jerome Butler played 83 minutes for Borussia Dortmund II as they let slip of their lead to only come away with a point after a 2-2 draw with Unterhaching.
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