Hertha win in Bochum!
Head coach Pál Dárdai made six changes to the team which started against FC Bayern. In the third away game in four to start the season, Dárdai made used a 3-4-2-1 formation which saw Jordan Torunarigha, Lukas Klünter and Vladimír Darida return to the side in place of Maximilian Mittelstädt, Deyovaisio Zeefuik and Santiago Ascacíbar who started on the bench. Dennis Jastrzembski, Marco Richter and Ishak Belfodil all made their first Bundesliga starts, with Oliver Christensen, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Myziane Maolida making the bench for the first time. Davie Selke (broken rib) und Stevan Jovetić (calf) did not make the journey.
A Serdar brace from both feet
Spurred on by their crowd, Bochum started on the front foot. Alexander Schwolow got down well to save Losilla’s early shot (4’). Bit by bit, Hertha came into the game, with a first half dominated by duels. The next chance also fell to VfL, with Simon Zoller heading a cross from the Hertha right wide (19’). Our first chance came through Marco Richter – the attacker shot low and wide from 25 yards (21’). After half an hour, Pál Dárdai was forced into his first change after Lukas Klünter came off with a shoulder injury, Zeefuik taking his place. We took the lead with our first big chance of the game, in the 37th minute – Niklas Stark won the ball in midfield and played it to Suat Serdar, the number eight running past three Bochum defenders and curling the ball into the bottom right corner. Six minutes later, Hertha doubled their lead. Dennis Jastrzembski’s long throw was not cleared by the home team’s defence, and Serdar lashed it home with his left foot from close range. The half time whistle was blown shortly afterwards by referee Robert Schröder, and Hertha went into the dressing room with their tails up.
Zoller halves our lead – Myizane secures the three points
Pál Dárdai made two substitutions to start the second period, with Mittelstädt and 17-year-old Linus Gechter coming on to replace Jordan Torunarigha and Jastrzembski, Gechter making his debut for the “Old Lady”. Thomas Reis’ Bochum side made a similar start as they had in the first half, putting pressure on the steadfast Hertha defence, Schwolow saving well from a Stafylidis free kick (55’). A minute later, our head coach made his fourth change, with Myizane Maolida coming in to replace Richter. Bochum then made a dent in our lead, through Zoller. A mazy run by Gerrit Holtmann ended with a well-saved shot, which came back out to Zoller and he put the ball in (59’). Bochum had the upper hand in this period – our Herthaners defended sternly and put everything into their challenges. Approaching the final quarter of the game, Prince Boateng came in for Belfodil. A counter attack secured the three points for the “Old Lady”: 20 minutes after coming on, Myizane collected a pass from Lucas Tousart and, after gliding past Bochum defenders, found the bottom right corner to open his account for Hertha. There were no more issues at the back for the away side, and we took our first three points of the season back to Berlin.
VfL Bochum: Riemann; Stafylidis (82‘ Bockhorn), Bella Kotchap (82‘ Decarli), Lampropoulos, Danilo Soares; Losilla (C) (63’ Tesche) , Löwen, Rexhbecaj; Zoller, Holtmann (82’ Antwi-Adjei), Polter
Hertha BSC: Schwolow; Boyata (C), Stark, Torunarigha (46’ Mittelstädt); Klünter (32’ Zeefuik), Tousart, Darida, Jastrzembski (46’ Gechter); Richter (57’ Myziane), Serdar, Belfodil (73’ Prince)
Goals: 0-1 Serdar (37’), 0-2 Serdar (43’), 1-2 Zoller (59’), 1-3 Myziane (78’)
Referee: Robert Schröder
Yellow cards: Tousart, Mittelstädt, Zeefuik
Attendance: 14,000