17.02.2018
HSV fall to Leverkusen 2-1
Hamburg are now ten games without a win. Bailey (40’) and Havertz (50’) scored either side of the break to give Leverkusen the lead, before Andre Hahn cut the lead in half in the 71st minute.
Despite showing a lot of grit and fight, HSV came up just short against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday afternoon. The visitors got off to the better start, while the Rothosen struggled. Leon Bailey’s goal in the 40th minute was deserved as such. The Werkself also started the second 45 more quickly, and were rewarded for their efforts by Havertz doubling their lead (50’). However, HSV fought themselves back into the game, and Andre Hahn cut the lead in half with 20 minutes left to be played. The comeback was on, but HSV couldn’t quite see it through. The game would finish with Bayer Leverkusen leaving the pitch as 2-1 victors.
HSV fall behind...
HSV coach Bernd Hollerbach made a few changes to the side that faced Borussia Dortmund. Papadopoulos made his return to the centre of defence after his suspension, leaving Jung to take the injured Ekdal’s place in midfield. Salihovic and Arp also started in the places of Hunt and Wood. And Arp was the man who had the game’s first real chance after six minutes had been played. He couldn’t quite make anything of the chance, however. Both sides cancelled each other out as the game’s early stages rolled on, with chances coming few and far between. The game had reached the 26th minutes before the next real chance came, with Aranguiz coming close for Leverkusen. His header would glance off the right post, however. That moment seemed to kick the game into gear, but it was Leverkusen who took the initiative. They weren’t quite dangerous enough to score a goal though - that is until the 40th minute. It was then that Leon Bailey pounced to capitalise on a split second of Douglas Santos indecisiveness and fire his side into the lead. The score would remain 1-0 heading into the break.
... And can’t quite pull it back
The second half got off to a very poor start for the Rothosen, just like the first one ended. It only took six minutes for the guests to add to their lead, after Havertz made no mistake to finish off a cross from the left hand side. HSV didn’t just give up there. In fact, it really kicked them into gear. It did take a while for them to get anything to show for their efforts though, with substitute Hahn getting the goal in the 70th minute. With 20 minutes left to play, the closing stages were very interesting. Bobby Wood had the best chance to get the equaliser, but his shot in added time narrowly missed the target - a tough pill to swallow for Hamburger SV.
MATCH STATS:
Hamburger SV:
Mathenia - Mavraj (46’ Hahn), Papadopoulos, van Drongelen - Sakai, Douglas - Jung, Walace - Salihovic (79’ Hunt) - Arp (54’ Wood), Kostic
Bayer 04 Leverkusen:
Leno - Retsos, Jedvaj, S. Bender, Wendell (16‘ Henrichs) - Kohr, Aranguiz - Brandt (73‘ Alario), Havertz (87‘ Baumgartlinger), Bailey - Volland
Goals:
0-1 Bailey (40‘), 0-2 Havertz (50‘), 1-2 Hahn (71‘)
Attendance:
45.691
Referee:
Dr. Felix Brych (Munich)
Yellow cards:
Mavraj (11’), Salihovic (77’) / Retsos (53’), Aranguiz (87’)
No show from HSV
HSV head coach Markus Gisdol was forced into changing his team ahead of the trip south. Long term injured first choice keeper Adler was still recovering from a broken rib before his understudy Mathenia also got injured and was ruled out of the matchday 31 encounter. Up stepped under-21 stopper Mikel to the fray. Key winger Kostic who scored the only goal of the game between the two sides on matchday 14 was suspended so his place went to Austrian Gregoritsch. Ostrzolek got the nod at left back ahead of Douglas Santos while Walace replaced Jung in defensive midfield. Gisdol made four changes in all to the side which lost 1-2 at home to relegation certainties Darmstadt last time out. The new-look formation struggled early on. Augsburg created three top scoring opportunities within the opening 20 minutes. New keeper Mikel managed to keep out efforts by Kohr and Schmid and was grateful to be able to watch a Stafylidis free kick fizz narrowly wide of target. On 22 minutes the visitors were in luck again as an Altintop effort struck the left hand post with Mikel beaten. It seemed to the capacity crowd including yet another sold out contingent of travelling HSV faithful that it weould only be a matter of time before the home side would break the deadlock and they did as Altintop rounded off two counter attacks on 28 and 41 minutes to make the halftime score 2-0 to Augsburg. Mickel was powerless on both occasions and was HSV’s best man before the break.
Deserved defeat
Lasogga came on for Gregoritsch and Jung replaced Walace at the start of the second half as Gisdol opted for a two-pronged attack. Later Jatta replaced Ostrzolek. The ploy simply didn’t work as the Rothosen had more of the ball than in the previous half but were completely harmless in front of goal. Augsburg played a much more intelligent game and struck the woodwork again through Baier. That superior intelligence was underlined late on as Augsburg struck twice through Max and substitute Bobadilla (76., 85.). It was game over for HSV who failed to threaten until the 84th minute for Lasogga and Wood to miss chances. It was simply not good enough and the Rothosen remain just one point above the relegation play off spot in the table. Matchday 22 sees Gisdol and Co. host Mainz who are level on points but two places better due to a superior goal difference. Only a win will do as the teams lock horns at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg next Sunday (07.05.17, 3.30 PM).
Match details:
FC Augsburg:
Hitz - Verhaegh, Gouweleeuw, Hinteregger, Stafylidis - Kohr, D. Baier (88. Callsen-Bracker) - Schmid, Halil Altintop (80. Bobadilla), Max (87. Ji) - Finnbogason
HSV:
Mickel - Diekmeier, K. Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Ostrzolek (63. Jatta) - Sakai, Walace (46. Jung) - Gregoritsch (46. Lasogga), Holtby, Hunt - Wood
Goals:
1:0 Altintop (28.), 2:0 Altintop (41.), 3:0 Max (76.), 4:0 Bobadilla (85.)
Booked:
Baier (48.) / Mavraj (33.), Gregoritsch (44.), Ostrzolek (51.), Holtby (72.)
Referee:
Manuel Gräfe (Berlin)
Att:
30.660 (sold out)
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