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Sportinglife - Bochum dramatically nailed down a place in next season's UEFA Cup on Saturday as they won and rivals Borussia Dortmund slipped up on the final day of the 2003/04 Bundesliga season.
It was tense to the finish, as Bochum supporters listened intently for updates from Kaiserslautern, where Dortmund were ultimately held 1-1.
But the home side did their fans proud, with two goals in a sensational last 15 minutes booking them an automatic place in European competition.
For a club of their stature this is some achievement, and fifth place this season matches their best ever finish to a Bundesliga season, equalling the mark set by the 1996/97 team.
A 'yo-yo' club, who have flitted between the top-flight and second division since the early 1990s, Bochum now have some players of estimable quality, and they have not reached fifth place by fluke.
Peter Madsen, Paul Freier and Frank Fahrenhorst were the goalscoring heroes on Saturday.
Hannover had the game's first chance, after five minutes, when Mohammadou Idrissou set up Jaime with a clear sight of goal, only for the target to be missed by a considerable distance.
Bochum took a good while to get into their stride, but by midway through the first half they were on top.
Vahid Hashemian had a header turned over the bar by goalkeeper Marc Ziegler in the 24th minute, and then the opening goal arrived two minutes later.
Freier skipped past Julian de Guzman and Idrissou on the right flank, before passing to
Hashemian and his cross was perfectly flighted into the path of Madsen whose header from eight yards rippled the Hannover net.
The lead was merited, and Bochum were in full flight until their wings were clipped in the 41st minute.
Thomas Christiansen drew Hannover level with a 12-yard volley which found the top of Bochum's net, after being found by Silvio Schroter on the right flank.
At Kaiserslautern, the home side were leading going into the interval, and that was welcome news in Bochum, where the home side knew that they must win the match and hope for Dortmund to either be beaten or draw.
The pressure on Bochum to find a second goal soared as the match carried on.
It was a nervy second half, no doubt about that, and Madsen was frustrated when his 15-yard shot was saved by Hannover's substitute goalkeeper Daniel Haas in the 52nd minute.
Likewise Hashemian 10 minutes later, but in his case the finishing was to blame, as the Iranian failed to find the target.
It was unthinkable that Bochum should fail to garner maximum points, particularly if Dortmund slipped up, and yet that looked the most likely outcome as the game entered its closing quarter of an hour.
Then ... a goal at last, and Freier the unlikely hero.
Having failed to find the back of the net in all Bochum's earlier matches of the season, he produced an emphatic finish in the 76th minute to put the home side ahead for the second time.
Madsen helped a cross from Hashemian into his path, and from 18 yards the midfielder's finish found the left corner of the Hannover goal.
Bochum boss Peter Neururer was focused as much on the match at Kaiserslautern, as the events happening in front of him, for the remainder of the match. Dortmund had grabbed a leveller, and they were pushing for a winner.
Relieving some of the tension was a third Bochum goal in the 87th minute when talismanic defender Frank Fahrenhorst headed home Dariusz Wosz's corner.
And a crowd of 32,645 rose to its feet to embrace the achievement of Neururer's team at the final whistle, once the fate of Dortmund was broadcast.
European football awaits.
"We have achieved a goal which I had written off earlier in the week," said Neururer. "I was firmly convinced that Dortmund would do what they required."
He expected little of Kaiserslautern and was therefore thrilled to see Dortmund held.
"Now we'll celebrate, and then come the holidays," added Neururer.
"After that we'll concentrate on how to establish ourselves at the top in the future. That will be a tough task." |
