Defeat by Frankfurt keeps Stuttgart bottom

Posted Monday, October 04, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

BERLIN (AFP) - Ten-man Stuttgart suffered their sixth Bundesliga defeat from seven on Sunday as they were beaten 2-1 by Frankfurt, while Mainz stay top after their record-equalling seventh straight victory.

Christian Gross-coached Stuttgart remain bottom of the league with just three points and only put up a fight in the last 10 minutes after they were well-beaten at home by mid-table Frankfurt.

Goals either side of half-time left Stuttgart 2-0 down before they fought back, but referee Dr. Felix Brych earned the home fans' wrath by disallowing an equalising goal in the dying stages from Germany's Cacau.

The guests took the lead when veteran Greece striker Theofanis Gekas scored with a header on 18 minutes before Brazilian defender Chris scored the second from a corner on 68 minutes.

To compound Stuttgart's misery, captain Matthieu Delpierre was sent off on 84 minutes when he let his frustrations get the better of him as he tackled Frankfurt's Patrick Ochs and hacked the ankle long before the ball.

The hosts fought hard in the hectic closing stages as Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored his fifth goal of the season for Stuttgart less than a minute after Delpierre's dismissal.

And with time almost up, Germany striker Cacau scored for the hosts amidst great celebrations at the Mercedes Benz Arena, only for the referee to rule the goal offside.

The result is Stuttgart's third straight league defeat and their sixth of the season and their next league game is against second-from-bottom Schalke on October 16.

On Saturday, minnows Mainz equalled the record for most wins at the start of a Bundesliga campaign with their seventh victory as they hammered 10-man Hoffenheim 4-2 to maintain their perfect record.

Dark-horses Mainz are only the third side after Kaisterslautern and Bayern Munich to have won all seven matches at the start of the season and their young guns ran riot at home to Hoffenheim.

They host Hamburg in their next league game on October 16 for their chance to make Bundesliga history with an eighth win.

Freiburg are up to fourth in the table after their 3-2 win over Cologne on Saturday and Hamburg are seventh after they came from behind to beat Kaiserslautern 2-1.

Schalke's dreadful start to the season continued at Nuremberg as they suffered their fifth defeat when they went down 2-1 to stay second from bottom.

Ex-England manager Steve McClaren was denied his fourth straight win when his side were held 1-1 by Moenchengladbach.

On Sunday night, second-placed Dortmund need to beat Bayern Munich at home if they want to close the six-point gap behind Mainz and Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund have racked up five consecutive wins in the German league.

And Werder Bremen must bounce back from their 4-0 hammering at Champions League holders Inter Milan when they face Leverkusen.