Kick-off was delayed by 50 minutes as visiting Frankfurt fans refused to remove banners blocking an emergency exit. Frankfurt took the lead 27 minutes in when Rasmus Kristensen thumped in his own rebound on the counter.

The visitors doubled their lead shortly afterwards, with Jean-Matteo Bahoya's 32nd-minute strike set up by a brilliant pass from striker Hugo Ekitike.

Gerrit Holtmann pulled one back with 73 minutes gone to give Bochum hope, but former Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi sealed the result with a stoppage-time strike, his second goal in two games since joining the Eagles in winter.

The victory kept Frankfurt fourth, three points ahead of fifth-placed RB Leipzig. Frankfurt defender Robin Koch praised goalkeeper Kaua Santos. "We need to pay a fair bit of thanks to Kaua. We're happy that we could grab the three points," he said.

Frankfurt have never qualified for the Champions League through league placing but played in the competition in 2022-23 after winning the Europa League. Frankfurt, who face Tottenham in this season's Europa League quarter-finals in April, had lost their previous three league matches.

Bochum were impressive despite the defeat, giving hope that they may beat the drop under coach Dieter Hecking. Hecking took over in November with Bochum having accumulated just one point all season. Since then, Bochum have won 19 points and have beaten giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Heidenheim boosted their slim chances of avoiding the drop with a 3-1 home win over Holstein Kiel, leapfrogging their opponents to move off the bottom of the table. Heidenheim's goals came through Marvin Pieringer, Budu Zivzivadze and Sirlord Conteh, while Kiel's strike came through Phil Harres.

Later on Sunday, defending champions Bayer Leverkusen can cut Bayern Munich's lead atop the table to six points with a win at Stuttgart.

G. Holtmann

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