Schalke's first victory of the season keeps Bochum winless
Schalke are finally off and running with a 3-1 win over struggling Bochum, in what could be trainer Thomas Reis’ last game against the club he reportedly wanted to join this summer.
Both sides were desperately looking for their first victory of the season on Matchday 6 at the Veltins-Arena. It was believed that Simon Terodde and Sebastian Polter would finally pair as a 1-2 attacking punch for Schalke, but Polter started on the bench in a Revierderby against his former club.
Bochum were hurting early with Gerrit Holtmann forced to replace Takuma Asano in just the 3rd minute. 2. Bundesliga legend Terodde had several early chances from open play, but couldn’t convert.
Alexander Schwolow saved a decent Holtmann long-range effort, but Schalke were finally the ones to strike first. Dominick Drexler finished off Marius Bülter’s hit that rebounded off keeper Manuel Riemann in the 38th minute, giving the Royal Blues a deserved 1-0 cushion heading into halftime.
The quality of play improved in the second period, as seen with Holtmann’s excellent run in the 51st minute that allowed Philipp Hofmann a clear shot on goal. Simon Zoller had the final touch and was originally ruled to be offside, but VAR reversed the call, awarding Hofmann the goal to give Bochum a huge equalizer.
Schalke's Rodrigo Zalazar was brought on shortly thereafter and immediately contributed to produce several decent opportunities. Drexler was unhappily taken off for Polter, who finally joined Terodde up front for the first time this season.
With Bochum improving as the game wore on in attack, Schalke began an onslaught of their own on goal that saw Terodde hit the crossbar. They then reclaimed their lead with Erhan Masovic’s own-goal in the 73rd minute from a Tobias Mohr free-kick.
Schalke worked hard to waste time and sat back deep in order preserve their three points. The plan worked to perfection, as Polter finished things off with a screaming 96th minute header to secure their first win of the season.
The Royal Blues massive win moves Schalke to 12th in the table, while Bochum sit bottom with zero points in what could be the end of the road for head coach Thomas Reis.