Neither side has a great defensive record and that continued in Sunday's late kick off. Frankfurt deservedly opened the scoring after 14 minutes through a well struck Caio free kick from just outside the penalty area. Bochum equalised in the cruelest of ways through a Franz own goal, but the defender made up for his earlier blunder securing the three points with a headed winner in the 53rd minute.
One goal apiece
The home side confirmed why they are six places ahead of struggling Bochum coming into this game as they dominated throughout the first half. The first real chance for either side came for Frankfurt after 11 minutes as Liberopoulos'? header hit the bar.
Just two minutes later Heerwagen had no chance in preventing the opening goal through an impressive swirling free kick from Caio. The Bochum keeper's view was hindered by his own wall and as a consequence responded too late to prevent the home side from taking the lead.
On 25 minutes Liberopoulos hit the Bochum woodwork again with a header, his effort creeping past the keeper only to be stopped by the upright. But Frankfurt's lead didn't last long. In what was Bochum's first real attack, Joel Epalle's cross from the right wing missed the intended target only for defender Franz to fumble the ball into his own net.
Finally rewarded
Frankfurt continued to crank up the pressure on Bochum in the second half and maintained their dominance from the first half. Their persistance was finally rewarded ten minutes after the restart as earlier villian Franz headed in the opposite end following some questionable Bochum defending.
Alex Meier perhaps should have extended the home side's lead on 64 minutes as the midfielder burst into the Bochum area only for his shot to flash in front of Heerwagen and slip past the far post. Bochum only had one real chance to equalise in the second half. Substitute Diego Klimowicz's long range effort was a shot on target for the visitors but caused Nikolov no problems in the Frankfurt goal.
Bochum's evening took a turn for the worse just ten minutes before the final whistle when Shinji Ono saw red for a second bookable offence just one minute after having received his first yellow. Bochum defended resiliantly with 10 men, but the three points had been decided long before.
Frankfurt move into ninth place, ahead of Dortmund on goal difference. Bochum go another week without points as they remain in 17th.
Frankfurt: Nikolov - Franz, Chris, Russ. Spycher - Schwegler - P.Ochs, Teber - Caio - A. Meier, Liberopoulos
Bochum: Heerwagen - Concha, Maltritz, Yahia, C. Fuchs - Dabrowski, Ono - Epalle, Dedic, Grote - Sestak
Goals: Caio 1-0 (14'), Franz 1-1 (OG 25'), Franz 2-1 (53')
Red Card: Ono (80')
Vince Hughes
