Ritsu Doan had a goal and an assist as Arminia Bielefeld beat Mainz 2-1 on Saturday to leapfrog their visitors into 16th, two points above the automatic relegation places.

Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Mainz
Goals: 1-0 Prietl (21'), 2-0 Doan (31'), 2-1 Stöger (82')

Bielefeld welcomed Mainz to the SchücoArena with the sides separated by just a single point in 17th and 16th respectively, with only Schalke below them in the table. The 05ers had put together a fine run of three games without defeat before this one, but it was the hosts who started brighter, Sven Schipplock's starting position alongside captain Fabian Klos up front a signal of their intent. Schipplock should have done better when he got the break of the ball in the Mainz box early on, only to thrash his chance over the bar, but Doan soon set about making up for that profligacy. First he laid off Manuel Prietl, whose shot from the edge of the area ricocheted off Alexander Hack and beyond a helpless Robin Zentner; and he turned taker 10 minutes later with some fine footwork and a low finish into the near bottom corner.

With the game slipping away from him, Mainz coach Jan-Moritz Lichte rang the changes just inside the hour with Pierre Kunde, Karim Onisiwo and Kevin Stöger replacing Leandro Barreiro, Aaron Martin and Edmilson Fernandes, and the injection of pace helped at first. Jean-Philippe Mateta slipped Robin Quaison through for a shot which he blazed off target and Bielefeld looked rattled. Lichte's opposite number Uwe Neuhaus audibly urged his team to sit back and keep the ball, although they could have made it three when Klos crossed for Prietl; the midfielder was denied his second of the game by an onrushing Zentner. Stöger pulled one back at the other end late on, but it proved too little too late, and Mainz held on to win 2-1.

Match stats

• Prietl's strike was his first Bundesliga goal. It was also the first of any of Bielefeld's goals this season to be scored in the first half.
• Doan is now Bielefeld's top scorer with two goals. The PSV Eindhoven-owned Japanese also has two assists to his name in 2020/21.
• Mainz haven’t kept a clean sheet this season, and have conceded more goals than ever before at this stage of a campaign (24).
• Onisiwo's appearance from the bench here was his 100th Bundesliga appearance.
• Stöger scored his first goal for Mainz following his summer arrival from Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Watch: Doan: "I saw a small space and I shot!"

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Line-ups

Bielefeld: Ortega - Brunner, Van der Hoorn, Nilsson, Lucoqui - Doan, Preitl, Hartel, Yabo (Voglsammer 64') - Schipplock (Cordova 79') - Klos (c) (Kunze 86')
Unused subs: Linner, Gebauer, de Medina, Soukou, Seufert, Maier
Out: Pieper (thigh)
Coach: Uwe Neuhaus 

Mainz: Zentner - St. Juste, Hack, Niakhate (c) - Brosinski, Barreiro (Kunde 58'), Fernandes (Stöger 58'), Martin (Onisiwo 58') - Boetius, Quaison - Mateta
Unused subs: Dahmen, Latza, Ji, Kilian, Papela, Burkardt
Out: Mwene (ankle), Öztunali (thigh), Szalai (knee)
Coach: Jan-Moritz Lichte

About the clubs

1. FSV Mainz 05

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