Draw in Augsburg

Augsburg strike early

The match began in the intensive manner anticipated prior to kick-off, but Augsburg took the lead in the eighth minute. Arne Maier was afforded far too much room on the right wing and his cross picked out Dion Beljo, who headed in from close range. Chris Führich could have equalised just four minutes later, but the VfB midfielder was thwarted by goalkeeper Tomas Koubek. Sebastian Hoeneß’s charges struggled to create any openings after that and went into half-time a goal down against a battling home side.

Endo equalises

Hoeneß brought on Silas and Tanguy Coulibaly for the second half, but even with the supersubs from the Dortmund game now on the pitch, VfB were initially unable to find a breakthrough in the final third. Captain Wataru Endo took it upon himself to change all that and scored the equaliser in the 78^th minute when he collected Tiago Tomas’ long ball into the box and finished from close range. The game opened up as the final whistle approached, but neither side was able to muster a late winner.

The goals:

8th minute (1-0): Maier finds space on the right and crosses into the middle for Beljo, who heads in the opener.

78th minute (1-1): Tomas floats a long ball into the penalty area – Endo bundles it over the line.

Reaction:

VfB head coach Sebastian Hoeneß: “Augsburg were up for it right from the off and we had to be careful not to let the game get away from us. In the second half we were able to exert more pressure and get behind their defence more. We were lacking that last bit of precision in a lot of situations, so I think a draw is fair. We have to accept it.”