First win for Mainz

Mainz picked up their first win of the Bundesliga season by defeating fellow strugglers Augsburg 2-0.

Mainz picked up their first win of the Bundesliga season to leave opponents Augsburg in their wake and struggling towards the bottom of the table. Andreas Ivanschitz gave Thomas Tuchel's side the lead in the 10th minute and an Adam Szalai goal a quarter of an hour later made it 2-0 and proved enough to earn them all three points. Augsburg struck the crossbar in the second half, but the Bavarians were always second-best in their third defeat in four games this season as the pressure increases on coach Markus Weinzierl. A bit of luck contributed to Mainz's opening goal in the 10th minute with Sebastian Langkamp trying to clear the ball as it came on from the left wing, but his clearance hit the knee of Ivanschitz, who unwittingly scored his second goal of the season. There was no fortune involved in their second goal, though, as Hungary international Szalai did all of the hard work himself. He received the ball inside the penalty area with his back to goal, but he was able to twist and turn past two Augsburg defenders and slot a shot into the bottom left-hand corner of Mohamed Amsif's goal. Augsburg could have fallen even further behind five minutes before half-time when Niko Bungert headed against the crossbar from eight yards out. Szalai brought a fine save out of Amsif as Mainz came close to a third goal midway through the second half, but it was Augsburg who then came close to opening the game up again in the 73rd minute. Torsten Oehrl turned Tobias Werner's cross on to the crossbar from close range. It was the closest the Bavarians came to scoring, even though they ended the game with four strikers on the field following the introduction of former Mainz forward Aristide Bance and Giovanni Sio. Augsburg have just one point so far this season and could drop to the bottom of the table tomorrow if results go against them.