Bremen victory over Mainz soured by red cards
Werder Bremen moved to within a point of Mainz and the Bundesliga's top six after a 1-0 home win that was soured by two late sendings off for the hosts.
The home side lost captain Marco Friedl and fellow defender Niklas Stark in stoppage-time, but held on to win and claim all three points.
Bremen could have gone ahead in the 12th minute when it was awarded a controversial penalty, but Marvin Ducksch fluffed his lines and saw his spot-kick saved by Robin Zentner in the Mainz goal.
The disappointment didn't last long, though, as Zentner was let down by his defenders and beaten by Leonardo Bittencourt as the visitors failed to deal with a corner delivered by Ducksch.
Bremen, though, was reduced to nine men in stoppage-time after wasting time from a throw-in.
First Stark was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red for his part in the shenanigans and then Friedl suffered the same fate as a result of his protests to the referee.
While the victory moved Bremen up to seventh on 30 points, one point and a place away from Mainz in sixth, suspensions for the two key defenders could prove crucial in the weeks to come.
