Mainz snap wasteful Gladbach's unbeaten Bundesliga start

BERLIN: Visitors Mainz 05 snapped 10-man Borussia Moenchengladbach's unbeaten Bundesliga run this season with a 1-0 win on Sunday courtesy of Aaron Martin's free kick to move into the top five.

Unlike in last week's 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich when Gladbach keeper Yann Sommer made a league record 19 saves, it was Gladbach who were the stronger team in the first half and missed a string of golden chances.

Marcus Thuram squandered several and hit the woodwork but instead of going in front the host found themselves down to 10 in the 63rd when Ko Itakura was sent off with a straight red card for a last-man foul.

To make matters worse, Martin stepped up to curl a superb free kick past Sommer, left frozen on the spot, and into the top corner.

Gladbach continued to be wasteful, with Jonas Hofmann failing to connect with the ball in front of goal in the 66th.

They thought they had finally bagged the equaliser through Lars Stindl but a replay showed he had dropped off a little too early and was ruled offside.

Mainz moved up to fifth spot on 10 points, two behind leaders Freiburg while Gladbach slipped to ninth on eight points.