Eintracht Frankfurt 2 - 1 Mainz: Eintracht Frankfurt beat Mainz to boost their survival hopes

Posted Monday, April 25, 2016 by PA

Eintracht Frankfurt boosted their survival hopes, with a late Stefan Bell own goal earning them a 2-1 win over Mainz.

Daniel Brosinski's last goal before Sunday's clash came for Cologne against Bayern Munich in 2009, but the way he struck the direct free-kick which put Mainz in front after 18 minutes made that statistic hard to believe.

He curled his effort over the wall and into the top left-hand corner of Lukas Hradecky's goal, beyond the reach of the Frankfurt custodian to give the visitors the lead.

Marco Russ levelled for the hosts less than 10 minutes later, though, and Frankfurt ended the first half stronger.

The second half saw both goalkeepers come out on top, with Mainz's Loris Karius making excellent saves from Haris Seferovic and Anis Ben-Hatira and Hradecky excelling himself to deny Jhon Cordoba.

Karius was ultimately beaten by one of his own players, though, with Ben-Hatira's cross striking Bell on his back and curling over his own goalkeeper and in for a crucial goal.

It lifted Frankfurt to within a point of the relegation play-off berth with three games of the season remaining, while Mainz remain sixth, four points adrift of fourth-placed Hertha Berlin.