Bundesliga wrap: Stuttgart head out of drop zone

17 March 2013 19:49

Stuttgart recorded an important 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt to climb clear of the relegation zone in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Bruno Labbadia's men had suffered four straight losses, including a disappointing Europa League exit, heading into the encounter but bounced back in style.

Vedad Ibisevic cancelled out Stefan Aigner's 17th-minute opener at the Commerzbank-Arena.

Georg Niedermeier scored the winner in the second half, lifting Stuttgart into 12th and eight points clear of Augsburg, who occupy the relegation playoff spot.

Eintracht Frankfurt remain fourth despite being winless in their past six matches.

It looked like they would break that run when Aigner put them ahead after a Pirmin Schwegler through ball split the defence.

Aigner's run was untracked and he finished smartly with the outside of his foot past Sven Ulreich.

They held onto their lead until early in the second half as Ibisevic struck from the penalty spot after Schwegler brought down Arthur Boka with a clumsy challenge.

And Stuttgart found a winner in the 71st minute as Niedermeier powered in a header from an Alexandru Maxim corner to seal all three points.

In the day's other game, Borussia Moenchengladbach moved up to seventh with a 1-0 win at home to Hannover.

Luuk de Jong scored what proved to be the winner on 36 minutes at Borussia Park.