Bundesliga wrap: Augsburg winning relegation battle

Augsburg’s hopes of remaining in the Bundesliga next season were boosted after their shock 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

Markus Weinzierl’s side had lost two games in succession and faced a tough task on Sunday against Champions League hopefuls Frankfurt, who were looking to close within a point of fourth-placed Schalke.

But a brace from Korean international striker Dong-Won Ji ended Augsburg’s poor run and lifted them out of the drop zone, and into the relegation play-off places.

Augsburg made a bright start to proceedings at SGL Arena, with Paul Verhaegh smashing his effort against the crossbar.

But it was not until the 27th minute that the home side were rewarded for their dominance.

Ji, on loan from Premier League outfit Sunderland, unleashed a shot on goal that took a deflection and left goalkeeper Oka Nikolov helpless.

Augsburg had the chance to double their lead five minutes later but Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker sent his penalty attempt over the bar.

The hosts had a number of opportunities to put the game to bed but they finally made sure of the three points courtesy of Ji, 10 minutes into the second-half.

Augsburg leapfrog Hoffenheim and into the relegation play-off spot, three points behind Fortuna Duesseldorf, while Frankfurt remain sixth in their quest for European football.

In Sunday’s earlier match, Stuttgart scored twice in the opening 45 minutes to beat seventh-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0.

Stuttgart took the lead in the 28th minute after Alvaro Dominguez accidentally directed the ball into his own team’s net.

And merely five minutes later, Christian Gentner dinked the ball over goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen for the hosts’ second goal.