"A very important three points"

We’ve summarised all the post-match thoughts of goal scorers Salomon Kalou and Jordan Torunarigha, plus Davie Selke, Valentino Lazaro and Niklas Stark:

Salomon Kalou: We took the lead early. After controlling the game for the first 45 minutes, we let up a little in the second half. We should have continued to press the way we did before the break, but we held back, which allowed Hannover to dominate. We scored the third goal at exactly the right time, just as Hannover were putting us under pressure. I wanted to help the team today and I was able to do that. It was very important for us to get the three points.

Davie Selke: That was such an important win for us and it took a lot of hard work. The table standings were very tight before the game; had we not picked up the three points, we might well have slipped into the relegation zone. It was important to get a result with a tough game in Leipzig coming up on Sunday - now we don’t have to keep looking down the table. Salomon Kalou had a great game – he was always in the right place at the right time, he has real quality and a lot of experience: he always knows where the ball is going to drop. Rune Jarstein also made some top saves – we all know we can rely on him.  

Valentino Lazaro: We attacked with courage in the first half, pressed the opposition a lot, that’s how we want to play in future as well. In the second half we tried to keep possession more and calm the game down. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that, and it became a feisty affair. Hannover won a lot of the loose balls and started to really press. We defended against this with conviction, fight and desire before eventually putting the game to bed with a third goal. This made it a fully-deserved victory. Salomon Kalou had a sensational game, we know what he can do. 

Jordan Torunarigha: I saw that the ball was clearly over the line, so I wasn’t at all worried the video assistant might interfere (smirks). There was a bit of luck involved; the ball somehow hit the bar first, but on my second attempt it thankfully went in – that was a moment of relief for us. After Karim Rekik’s injury it took a bit of time for me to find my feet in the game, but then everything went well. I’m happy I was able to help the team win today.  

Niklas Stark: We had the right attitude from the very first whistle. In the first half we were very active and our positioning was spot on, then in the second we lost our grip a little. We fixed that in time though and showed stability all over the pitch. This was a huge weight off our shoulders going into our last game before the winter break against Leipzig.