Stuttgart eke out first league win under Korkut

Berlin (AFP) – Stuttgart got their first victory under new coach Tayfun Korkut to boost their Bundesliga survival chances as striker Daniel Ginczek netted in Sunday’s 1-0 home win against Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Korkut, 43, a German-born former Turkey international, was brought in as head coach a fortnight ago to stop Stuttgart’s slide down the table after predecessor Hannes Wolf was sacked having lost seven of eight league games.

After overseeing Stuttgart’s 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg last weekend, Korkut got off to a winning start at home as Ginczek scored the winner at Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Arena with just five minutes gone.

Veteran Germany striker Mario Gomez threaded a pass between two defenders for Ginczek to sprint onto and then cooly slot home his fourth league goal of the season.

Gladbach had their chances as Josip Drmic, Brazil forward Raffael and Germany striker Lars Stindl all went agonisingly close for the visitors who have now suffered three straight league defeats.

This is only Stuttgart’s fifth league win since October as they remain 14th, still in the relegation battle and just four points from the bottom three.

Erratic Moenchengladbach drop to tenth despite being the only other team alongside Hoffenheim to beat runaway leaders Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga this season.

On Saturday, Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski scored for the 11th straight home league match, equalling the Bundesliga record, as Thomas Mueller also netted as the 2-1 win over Schalke which left Munich 18 points clear.