Clinical Bremen beat wasteful Bielefeld 2-0

BERLIN: Werder Bremen scored twice in the second half to beat relegation-threatened Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 in a postponed fixture of the 20th round in the Bundesliga.

Newly promoted Bielefeld remain winless in their seventh straight match after wasting a number of chances. Bremen, on the other hand, were clinical in front of goal to snatch all three points on the road.

The match had been postponed in February due to heavy snowfall in Bielefeld. The hosts started well as they created the first half chances through Amos Pieper and Andreas Voglsammer in the opening stages on Wednesday, Xinhua news reported.

With 29 minutes gone Bremen's defender, Omer Toprak had to block Ritsu Doan's attempt to deny the opener from close range.

It was all in the first 45 minutes, yet the hosts failed to turn their dominance into a tangible reward while Bremen remained passive and focussed only on fast breaks.

After the half-time break, Bremen had a fairy-tale start to the second half and broke the deadlock with its first chance of the game when Joshua Sargent tapped home Milot Rashica's good build-up work in the 47th minute.

Bielefeld responded well but neither Doan nor Marcel Hartel was able to make the most of the chances at the other end of the pitch.

To make things worse for the hosts, substitute Nathan de Medina received his marching orders for a foul on Niclas Fullkrug in the 71st minute.

Bielefeld were shocked whereas Bremen showed no mercy and made it two with their second chance of the game after Maximilian Eggestein's square pass found Kevin Mohwald, who made no mistake to seal the deal from eleven meters in the 75th minute.

The hosts kept pushing but Bremen's well-positioned defense stood firm to ensure their seventh win of the season. Bremen stay in 12th position in the Bundesliga standings meanwhile 16th-placed Bielefeld remain in the relegation play-off spot, two points from safety.

"It was a rough game but to tell the truth, Arminia was the better team today. We improved in the second half and were lucky that we scored immediately after the restart," said Bremen head coach Florian Kohfeldt.

"We played very well but we were not efficient as Bremen. We had our chances but did not use them," said Bielefeld coach Frank Kramer. IANS

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