A 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim allowed Bayer Leverkusen to consolidate sixth position in the Bundesliga.
Derdiyok and Sam earn straightforward win
A 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim allowed Bayer Leverkusen to consolidate sixth position in the Bundesliga.
Eren Derdiyok gave Robin Dutt's side the lead in the 10th minute and Sidney Sam sealed the win 10 minutes from the end of the game at the BayArena.
It was a comfortable success for the home side, who dominated the game from start to finish apart from stoppage time, when the visitors finally woke up.
Derdiyok passed a fitness test to get his name on the Leverkusen team-sheet, and he almost had his name on the scoreboard after six minutes when he met Sidney Sam's cross, but Tom Starke made an excellent instinctive save to deny him.
It was all Leverkusen in the first 10 minutes and Lars Bender scuppered the next chance before Derdiyok opened the scoring in the 10th minute.
Starke was unable to keep hold of Andre Schurrle's distance effort and the ball fell to the Switzerland international, who headed it over the line.
Dangerman
Schurrle was the Leverkusen dangerman and he probably should have earned a penalty in the 26th minute when he went down in the area under the challenge of Marvin Compper, but the referee waved play on.
It was a similar story in the second half with Leverkusen looking the more likely to score a second and Schurrle continuing to play havoc.
He was put through on goal by Stefan Kiessling in the 56th minute, but he failed to beat Starke.
The home side finally got the second goal to make things a little more comfortable for them in the 79th minute.
Kiessling laid the ball off for Sam, who lifted the ball over the onrushing Starke to double the home side's lead and seal the three points.
Hoffenheim finally responded when it was too late to get anything out of the game and Compper's shot was saved by Bernd Leno in the last minute as the visitors ended the game on the attack.
