VfB Stuttgart were beaten 2-0 at 1. FC Heidenheim on Bundesliga Matchday 10.
Heidenheim go closest before break
VfB shaded possession before the interval but it was the promoted side who carved out the better openings. Jan Schöppner (17’) and Benedikt Gimber (43’) were both denied by the woodwork, while VfB were unfortunate to see Angelo Stiller’s well-taken free-kick strike the crossbar as the first half ended goalless.
Silas misses spot-kick
Silas spurned a golden opportunity to put VfB ahead when he missed a penalty 12 minutes into the second half, and the visitors were behind 13 minutes later when Schöppner broke the deadlock. Sebastian Hoeneß’s team threw caution to the wind and were unlucky not to equalise when Luca Raimund struck the bar from close range, but Tim Kleindienst’s looping 94th-minute effort doubled Heidenheim’s lead and ended VfB’s hopes of salvaging a point.
Despite the defeat, Hoeneß’s side remain in third place in the Bundesliga table.
Goals
70th minute: Schöppner is left in too much space following a Heidenheim corner and sends his header past the stranded Alex Nübel.
94th minute: Waldemar Anton loses possession near the halfway line and Kleindienst catches Nübel off his goal-line. The forward sends a looping effort into the net from around 48 metres to complete the scoring.
Reaction
VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “We can’t be satisfied with our performance. We didn’t play well in the first half, we lacked pace and weren’t decisive enough in our actions. We were better in the second half but conceded two goals and missed a penalty. We’re capable of finishing off our other opportunities better than we did. We didn’t play well enough overall. We’ll analyse the game so we can do better against Dortmund.”