Hoffenheim have closed the gap on their rivals for a place in Europe by beating Mainz 05 2-0 at the Rhein Neckar Arena.
It was Mainz who started the better of the two sides, but they would regret missing a couple of good early chances as both Shinji Okazaki and Yunus Malli fired a few inches wide from promising positions.
Some hesitant defending from the hosts gifted Mainz another opportunity just before the break as Clemens Fritz found space to curl the ball just past the post.
A sluggish first-half display was quickly forgotten by the home fans when Hoffenheim broke the deadlock through Kevin Volland, who kept his composure at the end of a counter-attack to slot home after being picked out by Roberto Firmino.
Mainz struggled to produce a response to the opener, and Hoffenheim capitalised to double their advantage when Eugen Polanski headed Andreas Beck's cross past a helpless Loris Karius.
Markus Gisdol's side remained on the front foot in the latter stages as Hoffenheim collected a win to leave them just two points outside the top six.
Callum Mulvihill
