0-0: Werkself miss out on win against Augsburg

Jonas Boldt was suitably disappointed after the final whistle. "This result hurts. It was difficult against opponents who sat back most of the time. Nevertheless, we had our chances and we should have converted at least one. It's very, very annoying we didn't manage to do that. But nothing is lost as yet. We now have three matches against direct rivals for a top spot. We need to produce the results," said the Bayer 04 sporting manager looking forward to the fixtures against RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund. "We were okay when we were on the ball  but we need to take our chances and that applies particularly to me," said Kevin Volland.

Captain not on board

There were three changes to the Werkself starting line-up from the last match against FC Köln: Kevin Volland played up front in place of the suspended Lucas Alario, Panos Retsos came in for Tin Jedvaj at right back and Dominik Kohr replaced Kai Havertz in midfield after the youngster played three U19 internationals within a few days. Kohr started against his former club where he played from 2014 to 2017. Lars Bender had not recovered in time to be in the squad. "We made a joint decision to sit out again. I would definitely have played in a final. Now I can train for another week in peace and get myself right. Then I should be fully fit for next weekend," said the captain. Joel Pohjanpalo was also ruled out due to injury. Bayer 04 played a 4-3-3 formation with three holding midfielders providing solidity in the centre for Heiko Herrlich's team with Kohr playing in front of the other two. From the kick-off, Augsburg played as predicted by the Bayer 04 coach: aggressive, determined and competitive in every challenge. That required the Werkself to be accurate and play with tempo to produce a threat. That was the case on 15 minutes when Volland broke down the left to put in a low cross, which was met by Aránguiz in the penalty area but he put his shot well wide of the left upright – it was a really good opportunity to score.

The Werkself needed to be patient and keep working hard – as was clear early on. Kohr had the next chance with a curler that just went the wrong side of the top corner and 23 minutes. The host showed how it should be done on the half-hour mark: Wendell played a nice one-two on the left flank, fired in a cross but an Augsburg defender was able to intercept. A minute later the ball escaped Brandt as he was about to shoot, Aránguiz dribbled through into the box but was again halted on 31 minutes. Bayer 04 were now camped in the opposition half. A solo run by Bailey ended with a shot that was turned away for a corner on 36 minutes, a low drive from Brandt to the near post was easily saved by Marwin Hitz (38'), another effort from Bailey went just over the bar (41'). The two sides went into the half-time break level at 0-0.

Volland loses pace

Augsburg had the first chances after the restart – a lob from Michael Gregoritsch landed on the top of the net but it wouldn't have posed a real problem for Leno (46'), Martin Hinteregger's effort from a corner flew wide of the target (49'), and Leno kept out a shot from Sergio Cordova on 52 minutes. Augsburg did not create as many chances up front from that point and Phillip Max was lucky to escape with a yellow card after a challenge on Retsos. Aránguiz had a promising opportunity after a one-two with Brandt but he failed to connect properly (56'). And then Volland had a great chance to make it 1-0 and score his 50th Bundesliga goal at the same time: He broke clear from the halfway line but lost pace allowing  Hinteregger to intervene at the decisive moment (57') – disappointing not to make more of the chance.

Brandt's goal chalked off

The ball finally ended up in the back of the Augsburg net with a low shot from Brandt to the far corner – but the referee Frank Willenborg ruled the goal out after consulting the VAR as Bailey touched the ball with his heel when he was in an offside position (64'). Shortly after that, Herrlich made the first change up front with Havertz coming on for Kohr on 69 minutes. Brandt then failed to make the right choice in a counter-attack missing out Bailey who was in a good position. Stefan Kießling and Benny Henrichs came on for Julian Baumgartlinger and Retsos on 77 minutes – Bundesliga appearance number 401 for the stalwart.

Bayer 04 threw everything up front in the final minutes, pressing for the home victory. Henrichs hit a shot high and wide over the bar from the edge of the box on 80 minutes and a header from Bailey lacked power two minutes later. Augsburg were now pinned back but the Werkself were unable to land the decisive punch.

Bayer 04 are next in action in the Bundesliga with a Monday night fixture: The Werkself are away to RB Leipzig on 9 April with a 20.30 CET kick-off in the last game on matchday 29.

Match stats:

Bayer 04: Leno – Retsos (Henrichs 77'), Tah, S. Bender, Wendell – Kohr (Havertz 69'), Aránguiz, Baumgartlinger (Kießling 77') – Brandt, Bailey – Volland

FC Augsburg: Hitz – Gouweleeuw, Khedira, Hinteregger – Schmid, Max – Baier (Cordova 39'), Moravek (Richter 77') – Koo – Caiuby, Gregoritsch (Janker 71')

Goals:

Referee: Willenborg (Osnabrück)

Booked: Moravek, Max

Attendance: 25,800