Teams | October 26, 2014 at 06:00 PM
Third straight home win!
Third straight home win!
Änis Ben-Hatira (2) and John Heitinga scored in the 3-0 win over HSV.
Berlin - A crowd of 58.768 inside the Olympic stadium in Berlin saw the home side deservedly beat HSV 3-0 on Saturday afternoon (25.10.14) on Bundesliga matchday 9. Home coach Jos Luhukay fielded the same side for the third consecutive game after beating Stuttgart 3-2 at home and the 0-2 loss at Schalke last time out. Visiting coach Joe Zinnbauer was forced to make a change at right back following the injury to Diekmeier last weekend. His omission meant a first start for 21 year old Ashton-Phillip Götz. Former Germnay left back Jansen got the nod over dynamic midfielder Holtby in the Rothosen starting line-up.
HSV began in confident mood following their unexpected 1-0 win in Dortmund on matchday 8. Home keeper Kraft was called into action during the opening minute as he raced out of his goal to intercept former Hertha striker Lasogga (1.). The next chance fell to the hosts as Kalou played Änis Ben-Hatira into space inside the left edge of the Hamburg box. The Tunisian was caught in two minds and former Hertha keeper Drobny between the HSV posts easily dealt with the danger (10.). After that Hertha began to get more of a grip on the game and combined well at times going forward. As has been the case so often this term, Hertha were missing the final telling pass to their front line. At first. On 16 minutes Ben-Hatira failed to connect with a volley follwoing a corner and a valuable chance went begging (16.).
Ben-Hatira thwarted by Drobny
Shortly afterwards Stocker found Kalou, whose low right footed shot posed no problem for Drobny (22.) Seconds later HSV’s Ostrzolek blazed the ball over the Berlin bar after being nicely set up by Jansen. That was the last HSV chance before the break, as Hertha became more dangerous the longer the game progressed. Beerens crossed superbly onto the head of former Chelsea forward Kalou, who could only place his header narrowly wide of target (30.). Four minutes later the home side squandered the best chance of the game thus far as combination work involving Kalou and Skjelbred down the left flank ended with Ben-Hatira looking on as Drobny punched his volley out of the danger zone as the Tunisian looked certain to score (34.). The game was goalless at the break.
Both coaches made a single change during the break, with HSV boss Zinnbauer replacing Arslan with Holtby, while Luhukay brought on Ndjeng for Nico Schulz who needed treatment on a thigh problem sustained before the break. The second half took around ten minutes to really get going but when it did the home side took charge. Kalou put another header wide before at the other end Jansen looked for Lasogga with a crisp low cross. It needed a last ditch clearance by Heitinga to keep the home side on level terms (54/55.). Then Ndjeng nailed a 25 metre rocket onto the crossbar with Drobny well beaten.
Heitinga makes it 2-0
After HSV missed another good chance the deadlock was finally broken by Hertha. Kalou got the ball on the halfway line and sent Stocker on his way with a through ball towards the right edge of the Hamburg box, from where he produced the perfect square ball to Ben-Hatira, racing into the box from the left. This time Ben-Hatira kept his cool, allowing Behrami to slide past him before netting into the far corner of Drobny’s net (59.). HSV’s misery took another blow six minutes later, as a corner by Ben-Hatira fell to the feet of Hosogai at the far post, from where his misplaced shot found Heitinga who had only a simple tap in to make it 2-0 to the capital city side (65.)
Hertha continued to press forward in the knowledge that their defence was in miserly mood and hardly ever looked like conceding. That fact was underlined as Lasogga was substituted on 75 minutes after never getting a sniff of goal against Lustenberger, Heitinga and Co. The home side mounted further counter attacks the fist of which involved Stocker, Beerens and Ben-Hatira was dealt with by the visitors (83.); But not the second. Former HSV midfielder Per-Ciljan Skjelbred found Ben-Hatira in space down the right. He drew Drobny before calmly pulling the game to bed with a cool finish to give Hertha a well deserved 3-0 win. For HSV it was back to the drawing board after their worst performance under new coach Zinnbauer.
(rd,war/City-Press)
HSV began in confident mood following their unexpected 1-0 win in Dortmund on matchday 8. Home keeper Kraft was called into action during the opening minute as he raced out of his goal to intercept former Hertha striker Lasogga (1.). The next chance fell to the hosts as Kalou played Änis Ben-Hatira into space inside the left edge of the Hamburg box. The Tunisian was caught in two minds and former Hertha keeper Drobny between the HSV posts easily dealt with the danger (10.). After that Hertha began to get more of a grip on the game and combined well at times going forward. As has been the case so often this term, Hertha were missing the final telling pass to their front line. At first. On 16 minutes Ben-Hatira failed to connect with a volley follwoing a corner and a valuable chance went begging (16.).
Ben-Hatira thwarted by Drobny
Shortly afterwards Stocker found Kalou, whose low right footed shot posed no problem for Drobny (22.) Seconds later HSV’s Ostrzolek blazed the ball over the Berlin bar after being nicely set up by Jansen. That was the last HSV chance before the break, as Hertha became more dangerous the longer the game progressed. Beerens crossed superbly onto the head of former Chelsea forward Kalou, who could only place his header narrowly wide of target (30.). Four minutes later the home side squandered the best chance of the game thus far as combination work involving Kalou and Skjelbred down the left flank ended with Ben-Hatira looking on as Drobny punched his volley out of the danger zone as the Tunisian looked certain to score (34.). The game was goalless at the break.
Both coaches made a single change during the break, with HSV boss Zinnbauer replacing Arslan with Holtby, while Luhukay brought on Ndjeng for Nico Schulz who needed treatment on a thigh problem sustained before the break. The second half took around ten minutes to really get going but when it did the home side took charge. Kalou put another header wide before at the other end Jansen looked for Lasogga with a crisp low cross. It needed a last ditch clearance by Heitinga to keep the home side on level terms (54/55.). Then Ndjeng nailed a 25 metre rocket onto the crossbar with Drobny well beaten.
Heitinga makes it 2-0
After HSV missed another good chance the deadlock was finally broken by Hertha. Kalou got the ball on the halfway line and sent Stocker on his way with a through ball towards the right edge of the Hamburg box, from where he produced the perfect square ball to Ben-Hatira, racing into the box from the left. This time Ben-Hatira kept his cool, allowing Behrami to slide past him before netting into the far corner of Drobny’s net (59.). HSV’s misery took another blow six minutes later, as a corner by Ben-Hatira fell to the feet of Hosogai at the far post, from where his misplaced shot found Heitinga who had only a simple tap in to make it 2-0 to the capital city side (65.)
Hertha continued to press forward in the knowledge that their defence was in miserly mood and hardly ever looked like conceding. That fact was underlined as Lasogga was substituted on 75 minutes after never getting a sniff of goal against Lustenberger, Heitinga and Co. The home side mounted further counter attacks the fist of which involved Stocker, Beerens and Ben-Hatira was dealt with by the visitors (83.); But not the second. Former HSV midfielder Per-Ciljan Skjelbred found Ben-Hatira in space down the right. He drew Drobny before calmly pulling the game to bed with a cool finish to give Hertha a well deserved 3-0 win. For HSV it was back to the drawing board after their worst performance under new coach Zinnbauer.
(rd,war/City-Press)