A sense of frustration despite positives

After five defeats in a row, Hertha BSC claimed a point in Sunday’s draw against Hannover 96. Although the players were disappointed with the result, it provided a step in the right direction.

It was injury time in Berlin and Hertha had one last chance on the counter attack. Ondrej Duda broke downfield and played a great ball left to Salomon Kalou, who only had one thing in his mind. The Ivorian cut in onto his right foot and attempted to curl a shot into the far post. However instead of netting the decisive winning goal, Kalou’s shot agonizingly found the wrong side of the post. Just moments later, the full time whistle was blown, and the ‘Old Lady’ had to make do with a goalless draw on Easter Sunday. Once again, Hertha were unable to celebrate a victory and three points on a day when they were perhaps deserved. “As a team we worked well together and always tried to attack. We created a lot of chances and also pressed well defensively. If we had taken our chances, it would have been a completely different game,” said Kalou after full time.

Throughout the game, Hertha’s number 8 tried everything but was unable to round his game off with a goal. The 33-year-old, who recorded five of Hertha’s 16 shots on goal, was denied by Hannover goalkeeper Michael Esser on two occasions late on (74’, 80’). Teammate Matthew Leckie also fired wide of the post in the 13th minute. Duda was another to miss the target, as he placed his shot well over the bar after some fantastic work from Vedad Ibisevic to create the chance. “One point is better than none, but we haven’t achieved our goals – we want to win. The chances were there,” said Ibisevic, who returned to the starting line-up alongside Duda after missing the previous game through suspension. “The result is of course frustrating. We pressed early and had a few chances to score, but there was a lot that we could have done better. Maybe we didn’t earn our luck, because we played badly in the previous games,” said Marko Grujić, who also missed the Hoffenheim clash.

Fantastic support

Hertha had lost five games in a row ahead of the clash, whereas Sunday’s visitors Hannover came into the game on the back of eight straight defeats. Therefore, nobody was expecting a spectacle on Easter Sunday. But the main wishes of the fans were to see a team with passion and commitment to turn around the bad run of form, and they supported their team to the final minute. “It is a big shame that we weren’t able to get the winning goal for the fans. They were therefor every chance, which makes it even more frustrating that we weren’t able to find the back of the net,” added Davie Selke. Head coach Pal Dárdai was equally disappointed. “We had enough chances to finally get a win. But the willingness to fight and the commitment was there right until the end. We just lacked the final step – we would have got that with the goal.”

It was the first game since head coach Dárdai announced that he would leave the club at the end of the season. “We will work hard until the end of the season and will fight to pick up as many points as possible,” said the departing head coach. In addition to a sense of frustration over the missed chance to win, the ‘Old Lady’ can take some positives from the fact that Sunday’s game was the first clean sheet since the start of February for the team from the capital. “When you lose five games in a row, a lot of things become harder during the match. I think the Hannover game was a step in the right direction,” said Kalou as he summarised the feelings of his teammates. At least Hertha were able to put an end to a miserable run of defeats on Sunday, even if the injury to Niklas Stark provided another dampener. The next task for the Berlin team will be a trip to face Eintracht Frankfurt on 27/04/19, (kick off 15:30 CEST).