The visitors, Hannover, came into tonight's game in high hopes than the hosts, after a victory last weekend against struggling Hamburg. A Hannover win would see them draw level with on points with Frankfurt. Eintracht came into the game off the back of defeat to high flying Schalke and a win would see them sit in tenth place, albeit temporarily.
Eintracht started the affair and it was easy to see they were way off the pace. The first chance of the game fell to Hannover, as they took advantage of the sleeping defence of their hosts to score through Leon Andreasen. The Danish midfielder met Christian Pander's cross and headed past a despairing Kevin Trapp after less two minutes on the clock. A dream start for Hannover, leading so early on.
Eintracht looked for an instant reply and Pirmin Schwegler was first to try to level the scoring, but his long range shot was deflected by Marcelo and into the grateful hands of Ron-Robert Zieler. Stefan Aigner then believed he was through alongside Joselu, but found himself looking at an offside flag instead of the goal. Frankfurt did, however, pull one back through Martin Lanig. Tranquillo Barnetta's delivery deep into the box was missed by everyone, and Lanig found himself with the easy task of smashing home into an empty net. Both sets of players looked at the linesman in different mind sets, Frankfurt hoping they were onside and Hannover, of course, hoping for the opposite. The goal was given and the score was level. Just minutes later Hannover were back in front, this time through skipper Lars Stindl. Stindl claimed it after very little or no contact after Pander delivered a great ball from a costless kick from just inside the Eintracht half.
Shortly after their second, Didier Ya Konan added to Hannover's goal tally, picking up his third of the season and his team's third of the game. The ball fell kindly for the Ivorian who kept composed and guided the ball past a helpless Trapp. 3-1 Hannover in under half an hour.
Frankfurt looked in deep trouble and didn't look capable of pulling anything special off. Joselu couldn't keep his shot down and watched it blaze over the top of the goals. In a move that could only be described as tactical by Armin Veh, Pirmin Schwegler was replaced by talisman Alex Meier just past the half hour mark. There were multiple calls for a penalty, just seconds apart, as Frankfurt watched two of their shots come off the arms of Hannover players. The referee waved play on and the boo's could be heard ringing round the Commerzbank Arena.
Half time - Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - 3 Hannover; An entertaining spectacle to this point with lots of goals and end to end action.
Edgar Prib came on and replaced the cautioned Leo Bittencourt at the break, other than that both teams lineups stayed the same and Hannover got the second forty-five rolling. Similar to the first half, the team kicking off were knocked off possession quickly and Zieler was forced into action, pushing away an early Aigner cross to safety.
Opening goalscorer, Andreasen, almost added to Hannover's lead, aswell as his personal tally. His grounded shot hit the inside of the post and bounced back past the beaten Trapp. Five minutes later and Hannover had been prevented by the woodwork again, this time it was Szabolcs Huszti who hit the bar after a counter attack. Manuel Scmiedebach had his headed effort cleared off the line frantically and the Hannover players looked towards officials in hope of it being given.
Eintracht pulled one back and reduced the deficit to just one through talisman Alex Meier's header that glanced past Zieler. All to play for with just over twenty minutes remaining on the clock. A four-on-four Hannover attack was eventually hacked away by an Eintracht team reluctant to concede any more. Minutes later, a mass amount of green shirts stormed the box and somehow contrived not to find the net, despite having a numerical advantage over the hosts. With a rather generous helping of five minutes injury time Frankfurt piled men forwards. Meier came closest with a headed effort but Zieler caught comfortably.
Full time - Eintracht Frankfurt 2-3 Hannover
Hannover can now look forward to another season in the Bundesliga after the win made them all but mathematically safe from the drop. They now sit level on points with the team they defeat, Frankfurt.