Monchengladbach extend impressive home form with victory over high-flying Stuttgart
In their return to Bundesliga action following the winter break, Gerardo Seoane’s Gladbach side needed to return to winning ways after going three without victory before the midseason interval.
And his side could not have got off to a better start as they produced the fastest goal of the season so far, netting in 21 seconds. Pressing the Stuttgart defence high up the pitch, Rocco Reitz collected the ball and picked out Robin Hack, who from a tight angle, produced a powerful effort into the far corner.
Despite opening the scoring, the home side would have been wary as they also top the league table for conceding points from winning positions this season (17), but that pressure was somewhat eased midway through the half with a second goal.
Again, a high press paid dividends as Alassane Pléa played Hack through on goal and the German swept his second strike of the evening and indeed the season.
Stuttgart struggled to get a foothold in the match, and it took until the half-hour mark for their first real chance on goal. Denis Undav was picked out in the box but the striker dragged his shot wide in what was a poor first half for the visitors.
Stuttgart have not drawn on their travels this season with four wins and three losses but they put themselves in a great position to salvage at least a point after the break as they came out a different outfit.
Undav was in the thick of the action once again but the German’s struggles in front of goal continued as his first-time effort was saved by Moritz Nicolas. The pressure from Die Roten continued though and Joha Vagnoman cut the deficit with a pinpoint effort from the edge of the box, setting up a tense final 30 minutes.
With their one-goal lead looking under threat, Gladbach began to sit further deep and looked to hit the opponents on the counter-attack. The home side also defended their goal superbly well, to the extent that Stuttgart were resorting to long-range efforts that were comfortably dealt with by Nicolas.
The contest was ended in stoppage time as Manu Koné’s effort crashed off the crossbar but Jordan Pefok was on hand to tap in the rebound and put the result out of sight, moving the home side into midtable, while Stuttgart remain in third place.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Robin Hack (Borussia Monchengladbach)
