Schalke defeat Bochum 3-1 at home

Two changes

Head coach Frank Kramer made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 in Stuttgart a week ago. Cedric Brunner was unavailable due to muscular problems, and that meant Henning Matriciani came in at right-back. Tobias Mohr also replaced Thomas Ouwejan on the left, the Dutchman beginning on the bench.

Drexler in the right place at the right time

Schalke had the first chance of the night in front of a loud crowd at the VELTINS-Arena. Following a throw-in from Henning Matriciani, Marius Bülter laid it off to Simon Terodde and he fired straight towards goal, but he could only hit his strike straight at Bochum goalkeeper Manuel Riemann (7’).

Schalke’s number 9 was again involved eight minutes later in the next chance. Bülter played Jordan Larsson in behind and he found Terodde to his left. His shot was crucially blocked by Erhan Masovic.

The away side had to wait until the 20th minute for their first shot. Kevin Stöger’s corner was met by captain Anthony Losilla, however he headed just over. This gave VfL encouragement as they then came close again soon afterwards. Gerrit Holtmann struck one powerfully on his left and Alexander Schwolow couldn’t hold his shot. The rebound fell to Simon Zoller, who from a Schalke perspective, thankfully cleared the bar with his close-range shot (22’).

Holtmann was part of Bochum’s next dangerous attack, putting in a cross towards the back post that Zoller was inches away from getting on the end of (35’). Less than two minutes later, however, Schalke took the lead. Manuel Riemann was only able to parry Marius Bülter’s deflected shot and Dominick Drexler was in the right place to comfortably score the rebound. The Royal Blues therefore went into the break 1-0 ahead.

Equaliser, own goal, Polter

The second half began badly for the Royal Blues. Gerrit Holtmann sprinted into the box at pace and crossed it to teammate Philipp Hofmann. His shot was heading into the back of the net, but touched Simon Zoller on the way in. The assistant then raised his flag for offside, however VAR showed that the VfL forward was onside and so the goal stood (53’).

It was an even game following the visitors’ equaliser, with chances few and far between. One of those rare opportunities came in the 71st minute when Simon Terodde hammered the ball onto the crossbar on his left foot from close range.

S04 would get their second goal soon enough. Tobias Mohr whipped in a free-kick towards goal and Erhan Masovic deflected it past goalkeeper Riemann for 2-1 (73’). Terodde then volleyed wide directly from a long ball four minutes later.

The home fans pushed their team on towards the victory in the closing stages. They also got a first glimpse of summer signings Kenan Karaman and Leo Greiml late on. With the final minute of the five added on almost up, Sebastian Polter put the icing on the cake with a header from a Mohr free-kick, scoring against the side he joined from just a few months ago.

Another derby up next

Schalke’s next opponent is against another local rival, this time away to Borussia Dortmund (Saturday, 17/9). The match will kick off at 15:30 CEST and will be followed by a two-week international break.