50th minute: Delaney plays an excellent cross to Bartels. The German gets his head up to pull the ball back for the on-rushing Eggestein. Instead of hitting it first time, the midfielder switches it to his left and has a go. Gentner gets his foot in the way and Zieler is not troubled.
52nd minute: Werder are celebrating. Kruse shoots from inside the box, his shot is blocked but it falls to Bartels, who finishes into the open goal from short range. The goal music rings around the Weserstadion, but referee Bastian Dankert rules it out for offside after a review from the video assistant referee. It was a close decision, but the right one.
62nd minute: The fresh Anastasios Donis gets around Milos Velkovic and tries to find fellow substitute Simon Terodde in the six-yard box. Thankfully for SVW, Moisander is alive to the danger and gets in the way of the pull-back. With half an hour to play, Stuttgart coach Hannes Wolf has thrown caution to the wind with his two attacking substitutes.
64th minute: A huge chance for the guests! Bartels loses the ball around 20 yards from goal to Özcan, who finds Josip Brekalo with just Pavlenka to beat. He finishes past Pavlenka and thinks he has scored, but Bargfrede clears the ball just before the line with his upper body.
67th minute: On the other side of the pitch, Bartels is brilliantly denied by Zieler and the former Germany international sets his team on the counter. Gentner tries his luck from distance and barely misses the target. The pace of the game has suddenly increased!
70th minute: Close again! Delaney fires a free kick from a good 22 yards out over the wall and just centimetres over the bar.
82nd minute: Delaney is through on goal after getting round Pavard and Badstuber, but he is denied in the one-on-one with Ron-Robert Zieler. Two minutes later, Augustinsson has the next chance, but the Swede only finds Zieler’s fists with a long-range effort.
84th minute: A free ball comes to Badstuber on the edge of the box, he takes the ball out of the air and fires it low to Pavlenka’s right from a central position. The Werder ‘keeper gets down well and pushes the ball wide.
88th minute: Things are getting nervy for the Green-Whites now. First, Akolo’s shots are blocked and after, Holger Badstuber gets on the end of a cross.
90th minute: It’s all over at the Weserstadion! Werder win 1-0 against VfB Stuttgart!
Summary: In a hard-fought game, SV Werder get the upper hand over VfB to claim their second home win in a row. The first half did not see many chances come the way of either side, but Fin Bartels and Max Kruse took full advantage of a sleeping Stuttgart defence just before half time. Bartels’ disallowed goal would have made the Green-Whites more comfortable, but as it was, the game remained open until the final whistle. The guests particularly pushed in the last ten minutes, but left Bremen empty handed. With three points in the bag and more confidence - the Green-Whites could not have wished for a better start to their busy December schedule!
