Gladbach beats Bochum at 16th attempt in Bundesliga

BERLIN (AP) — Borussia Mönchengladbach finally beat Bochum in the Bundesliga at the 16th attempt with a 2-1 win over the promoted visitors on Sunday.

First-half goals from Alassane Plea and Jonas Hofmann were enough for Gladbach’s first win over Bochum in Germany’s top tier since a 2-1 victory in September 1997, though the home team was forced to hold on.

Danny Blum scored Bochum’s consolation with a brilliant free kick in the 86th minute and the visitors pushed hard for the equalizer. Yann Sommer pulled off a good save in injury time and Gladbach saw out its fourth league win of the season.

Markus Thuram thought he’d scored the home team’s third goal to seal it after Blum’s goal, but the French forward’s goal was chalked off for offside.

The clubs previously met in 2011 when Gladbach denied Bochum promotion in the two-legged relegation/promotion playoff. Bochum had to wait until last season before earning promotion directly as second division champion.

The club is 14th in the 18-team first division with three wins and one draw from its opening 10 games.

Gladbach routed Bayern Munich 5-0 in the German Cup on Wednesday

AUGSBURG RELIEF

Augsburg claimed a much-needed Bundesliga win against Stuttgart with goals to spare earlier Sunday, winning 4-1 to ease the pressure on coach Markus Weinzierl.

Weinzierl’s team produced its best performance of the season to come from behind after Chris Führich’s early goal for Stuttgart as Augsburg claimed its second league win from 10 games.

Führich scored in the seventh minute as the visitors were rewarded for making the better start, but Reece Oxford equalized with a header from a corner in the 30th.

Jeffrey Gouweleeuw scored after another corner in the 53rd, and Florian Niederlechner made it 3-1 in the 72nd before Alfred Finnbogason completed the scoring in the 81st.

Augsburg remained in the relegation zone, one point behind Stuttgart which lost its fourth league game of the season.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports