Points were at a premium for both teams ahead of kick off, for contrasting reasons. HSV under coach Bruno Labbadia wanted to bounce back following their round 24 away loss to Bayern last weekend. Saturday's visitors to the sun-drenched HSH Nordbank Arena, began the game rock bottom of the Bundesliga table, three points from a play-off place.
 
Coach Friedhelm Funkel and his Hertha side lost 0-2 at home to Hoffenheim last time out, so to take a point home from Hamburg would be a major bosst for everyone at the club. Labbadia made four changes to the side which lost 0-1 at Bayern. Demel, Boateng, Trochowski and Berg made way for Rincon, Aogo, fit again Jansen and Torun. Funkel made just one change, picking veteran defensive midfielder Dardai ahead of winter signing Gekas.
 
The home side began the game by taking it by the scruff of the neck, against a team who had been occupying bottom place in the Bundesliga table since September 2009. Aogo and Jansen created early problems for the Berlin defence, but Jansen (2.) Petric (5.) and Ze Roberto (5.) tried to finish off moves in a fancy way, instead of just rounding things off with an accurate effort. Hertha looked anything but solid at the back during the opening stages. Luckily for the capital city visitors, a fine move involving a sweet through ball from Elia to Turun ended, when Aogo's effort was blocked in the nick of time (10.).
 
There was little to see from Hertha, until Ramos all of a sudden could have given them what would have been a shock lead, as Raffael's free kick landed on the head of the-unmarked Columbian striker, who in his surprise could only head the ball straight at HSV keeper Rost (14.). The game then petred out somewhat. Although Labbadia's team looked to be in charge, Hertha's defence grew in confidence, the longer Hamburg looked to be void of ideas in midfield. Hardly surprising then that the next chance fell to the visitors, as Ramos was allowed far too much room, before driving Kobiashvili's pinpoint pass agonisingly wide of target while only ten metres out (25.).
HSV had no remedy for the problems being posed by the Berliners, who were happy to sit back and wait to hit the Rothosen on the counter attack. Isn't that what most teams do when they visit Hamburg, so why the difficulty in adapting to what must have been a familiar ploy? Had Ramos been able to control the ball while on the halfway line, he would surely have shown his markers a clean pair of heels on his way towards goal. But it wasn't to be. Five minutes before the break Elia fed Torun down the right wing, the yound HSV striker beat Hertha skipper Friedrich in the process. His ball somehow fell to Jansen. Despite a fierce challenge by Hubnik, he kept his cool before slotting the ball home for what was his 6th goal of the season (40.). Everyone was slightly scratching their heads as HSV took a slender 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
 
Berlin tried to attack HSV from the off as the second half began, and on 49 minutes they almost equalised. Cicero tried to volley a shot towards goal but miss-hit his effort. The ball found its way to Ramos, who could only nail the ball onto the crossbar from only a couple of metres out.
 
HSV struggled to get a foothold during the early stages of the second half and were hit on the counter attack following one of their own corners. Elia's header back to Rost was not hard enough, which allowed Lustenberger a one on one chance with the HSV keeper, who spread his considerable frame at the feet of the slightly-built Swiss midfielder to avert the danger (62.). Just after the hour mark Both coaches made changes: Funkel brought on Wichniarek for Dardai, while Petric was replaced by van Nistelrooy, who was greeted with a standing ovation just for coming on!.
 
From then on the home side began to control matters, much to the relief of the majority of the huge crowd . Jansen broke down the left and cut infield towards the Hertha area, where he failed to spot van Nistelrooy who was far better placed than the Germany defender, and a good chance went begging (75.).
 
Even though there was no more noteworthy goalmouth action, the home side could not rest on their laurels. Berlin looked constantly ready to pounce on any mistakes. Hertha are running out of games. Next week they have a classic "six-pointer" as they entertain fellow strugglers Nürnberg at what will certainly be a tense Olympic stadium in Berlin. HSV are in action on Thursday night as they take on Belgian side RSC Anderlecht in the first leg of a last-16 Europa League clash.
 

Match details:
 
HSV: Rost - Rincon, Rozehnal, Mathijsen, Aogo, Jarolim, Zé Roberto, Torun , Jansen, Petric Elia
Hertha BSC: Drobny - Piszczek, A. Friedrich, Hubnik, Kobiashvili, Dardai , Lustenberger, Kringe, Cicero, Ramos Raffael
 
Goals: 1-0 Jansen (40.)

Booked: Lustenberger, Hubnik Kobiashvili / Rincon
 
Referee: Fleischer
 
Att: 53,905