Bremen, Stuttgart win to ease Bundesliga relegation fears

Werder Bremen and Stuttgart managed to ease their Bundesliga relegation worries on Sunday with home wins.

Bremen enjoyed a 3-1 victory over Wolfsburg in the late game, while Daniel Ginczek's early goal was enough for Stuttgart's 1-0 win against Borussia Moenchengladbach. It was Tayfun Korkut's first win in his second game as Stuttgart coach.

Korkut received a cool welcome from Stuttgart fans after his appointment as Hannes Wolf's replacement on Jan. 29.

Korkut's previous spells in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, Kaiserslautern and Hannover did not inspire confidence, while the 36-year-old Wolf was popular after leading Stuttgart to promotion as second division champion last season. But Wolf ran out of time after Stuttgart slumped to six defeats in seven Bundesliga games. Ginczek scored in the fifth minute after being set up by strike partner Mario Gomez.

Lars Stindl and Thorgan Hazard came closest to equalizing in the first half, while Raffael drew a smart save from Ron-Robert Zieler in the second, but ultimately neither side impressed and Stuttgart managed to hold on.

GERMANY Bundesliga

BREMEN BUOYANT

Bremen also got off to a good start as Ludwig Augustinsson scored with a header off a corner in the fifth minute, before Florian Kainz let fly with a curling effort to make it 2-0 five minutes before the break.

Visiting Wolfsburg was given a lifeline after the interval when Robin Knoche earned a penalty. Jiri Pavlenka saved Paul Verhaegh's spot kick but the Wolfsburg captain followed up to score on the rebound. Kainz followed his first league goal of the season with his second to seal Bremen's win with just over 15 minutes remaining. Max Kruse sent the Austrian through to fire the ball through Koen Casteels' legs. Yesterday Stuttgart-B. Monchengladbach ....... 1-0 Werder Bremen-Wolfsburg ............. 3-1

Standings

P W D L F A Pts Bayern Munich22 18 2 2 53 17 56 RB Leipzig 22 11 5 6 35 29 38 Dortmund 22 10 7 5 47 29 37 E. Frankfurt 22 10 6 6 30 25 36 B. Leverkusen 22 9 8 5 41 29 35 Schalke 22 9 7 6 34 29 34 Augsburg 22 8 7 7 32 28 31 Hoffenheim 22 8 7 7 36 35 31 Hannover 22 8 7 7 31 32 31 B. M’gladbach 22 9 4 9 30 34 31 Hertha Berlin 22 7 9 6 30 28 30 Freiburg 22 5 10 7 23 37 25 Wolfsburg 22 4 12 6 25 28 24 Stuttgart 22 7 3 12 18 27 24 W. Bremen 22 5 8 9 21 27 23 Mainz 22 5 5 12 26 41 20 Hamburger SV 22 4 5 13 17 32 17 FC Koln 22 3 4 15 19 41 13