Pohjanpalo salvages a point in Hannover with last-gasp header

Pohjanpalo steals a point at the last

The second half started in the worst possible way, as the hosts took the lead with the first chance of the half. Linton Maina was given far too much space down the left to get his cross away, which found Cedric Teuchert with his back to goal ten yards out. His first shot was blocked by Rick van Drongelen but the rebound fell kindly to the Hannover striker, who gobbled up the second opportunity and hit low with his right past the helpless Daniel Heuer Fernandes. Hamburg should have been level inside five minutes, with two chances that should have seen the net ripple. Tim Leibold did excellently to force his way through down the left-hand side, drive into the box and draw Ron-Robert Zieler. The 26-year-old's pull-back to the penalty spot found Bakery Jatta, who contrived to fire over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Another attack, this time down the right-hand side, saw Louis Schaub freed and drive to the byline, pulling back to the penalty spot as well, but Sonny Kittel's toe poke was cleared off the line by Hannover. 

After the initial flurry of chances having been and gone, all of the momentum evaporated from Hamburg's attacking efforts, with Hannover content to sit deep and counter-attack, and errors in possession leading to few chances of note for the Rothosen. The usual late charge didn't come to fruition for Dieter Hecking's side, with Sonny Kittel's curling effort from the edge of the box in the 73rd minute the only meaningful effort on goal after the two gilt-edged chances just after Teuchert's opener. However, a final attack from Hamburg saw the ball nervously cleared at the last minute by Hannover out for a corner. Daniel Heuer Fernandes came up from the back, but wasn't needed as substitute Pohjanpalo freed himself from his marker and headed into the ground and past Ron-Robert Zieler to spark crazy scenes amongst the 15,000 travelling fans. All in all given the amount of chances on both sides a fair result, but Hamburg only seemed to wake up after going behind, for the second away game in a row. The Rothosen will have to be better next Saturday against arch-rivals St. Pauli at the Volksparkstadion.