Teams | October 9, 2013 at 01:16 PM
1-1: Fine draw in Hannover
1-1: Fine draw in Hannover
Substitute Ronny secures away point with a trademark late free kick blockbuster in Hannover.
Hannover - Hannover 96 opened Bundesliga matchday 8 by entertaining Hertha BSC at the HDI-Arena On Friday night (04.10.13). Late substitute Ronny deservedly equalised for the visitors against Hannover who dropped their first points at home this season. The 2,500 travelling faithful among the healthy crowd of 46,500 celebrated yet another late substitute's goal after the same thing had happened last time out as Hertha beat Mainz 3-1 at home last week. Berlin boss Jos Luhukay chose the same starting line-up from that day, with Änis Ben-Hatira on his own up front and Sami Allagui on the right and Nico Schulz on the left wings. Per Skjelbred reverted to a spot in front of the back four alongside Hajime Hosogai. Hannover lost away to in-form Bayer Leverkusen last time out. Their coach Mirko Slomka made two changes to the team from that day. As expected the-injured Sané made way for former captain Christian Schulz in central defence, while much-travelled veteran attacking midfielder striker Jan Schlaudrraff got the nod ahead of Leonardo Bittencourt.
Hertha tried to carry on where they had left off against Mainz, but the game never really got going during the opening 45 minutes. The visitors looked useful enough but misplaced passing and niggly fouls usually prevented them from playing their usual game. The opening minutes were completely void of any noteworthy goalmouth action.
Hannover score with first chance
After around a quarter of an hour Hertha finally got sight of the goal being guarded by Ron-Robert Zieler. Skjelbred found Hosogai some distance out but his effort flew well wide of goal (18.). Less than a minute later Sami Allagui was unlucky not to reach the rebound from a shot by Mico Schulz, which the home keeper could only parry to his left. Hannover's luck was in shortly afterwards, as a direct free kick from Lars Stindl was cleared away for a corner. That corner was poorly cleared and as the ball fell to former Hannover captain Christian Schulz, the big defender opened the scoring with a shot from the edge of the box with what was his side's first effort on goal (23.). It remained a dull game during which Hertha tackled strongly and well. But they lacked accuracy in front of goal and went into the break a goal behind.
While the capital city side tried to take the game to their hosts early in the second half, Hannover seemed content to sit back and try to defend their slender lead. Hertha showed their much-feared ability to switch from defence to as after they won the ball following a Hannover corner. Sadly though, Ramos could not find the right moment to bring Allagui into the move and a good chance was missed (55.). Two minutes later the Columbian striker did a better job finding Ben-Hatira with a crisp pass. The Hertha fans looking on could not believe it as his shot cannoned off the right hand upright with the home keeper beaten (57.). Ramos then missed a sitter as he blasted the ball left of target while alone in the area after being played in by Skjelbred (72.).
Ronny to the rescue!
It seemed that things just wouldn't go Hertha's way, but late on Luhukay made yet another profitable substitution as he replaced Ramos and Allagui with Sandro Wagner and Ronny. The new duo had an almost immediate impact as Wagner was brought down just outside the Hannover box. Up stepped Ronny to blast the ball into the top left hand corner of the net from some 20 metres out to give his side a long overdue equaliser (81.). What a shot! Hertha pressed forward in search of a winning goal, but it was the home side who almost triumphed at the death as Berlin stopper Thomas Kraft produced an amazing save to keep out a powerful last minute header by Sobiech (90.). The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Ronny's strike was the fifth from a Hertha substitute this season and deservedly secured a mega-crucial away point at top five side Hannover. Because of the impending break for 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Luhukay has a fortnight to prepare his team for their next task - the Bundesliga matchday 9 home game against former Hertha coach Lucian Favre and Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Saturday (19.10.13, 18.30 pm).
Hertha tried to carry on where they had left off against Mainz, but the game never really got going during the opening 45 minutes. The visitors looked useful enough but misplaced passing and niggly fouls usually prevented them from playing their usual game. The opening minutes were completely void of any noteworthy goalmouth action.
Hannover score with first chance
After around a quarter of an hour Hertha finally got sight of the goal being guarded by Ron-Robert Zieler. Skjelbred found Hosogai some distance out but his effort flew well wide of goal (18.). Less than a minute later Sami Allagui was unlucky not to reach the rebound from a shot by Mico Schulz, which the home keeper could only parry to his left. Hannover's luck was in shortly afterwards, as a direct free kick from Lars Stindl was cleared away for a corner. That corner was poorly cleared and as the ball fell to former Hannover captain Christian Schulz, the big defender opened the scoring with a shot from the edge of the box with what was his side's first effort on goal (23.). It remained a dull game during which Hertha tackled strongly and well. But they lacked accuracy in front of goal and went into the break a goal behind.
While the capital city side tried to take the game to their hosts early in the second half, Hannover seemed content to sit back and try to defend their slender lead. Hertha showed their much-feared ability to switch from defence to as after they won the ball following a Hannover corner. Sadly though, Ramos could not find the right moment to bring Allagui into the move and a good chance was missed (55.). Two minutes later the Columbian striker did a better job finding Ben-Hatira with a crisp pass. The Hertha fans looking on could not believe it as his shot cannoned off the right hand upright with the home keeper beaten (57.). Ramos then missed a sitter as he blasted the ball left of target while alone in the area after being played in by Skjelbred (72.).
Ronny to the rescue!
It seemed that things just wouldn't go Hertha's way, but late on Luhukay made yet another profitable substitution as he replaced Ramos and Allagui with Sandro Wagner and Ronny. The new duo had an almost immediate impact as Wagner was brought down just outside the Hannover box. Up stepped Ronny to blast the ball into the top left hand corner of the net from some 20 metres out to give his side a long overdue equaliser (81.). What a shot! Hertha pressed forward in search of a winning goal, but it was the home side who almost triumphed at the death as Berlin stopper Thomas Kraft produced an amazing save to keep out a powerful last minute header by Sobiech (90.). The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Ronny's strike was the fifth from a Hertha substitute this season and deservedly secured a mega-crucial away point at top five side Hannover. Because of the impending break for 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Luhukay has a fortnight to prepare his team for their next task - the Bundesliga matchday 9 home game against former Hertha coach Lucian Favre and Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Saturday (19.10.13, 18.30 pm).