Hannover travelled to the Olympiastadion to face Hertha in the opening clash of Matchday 11. After a dissapointing start to the season, Hertha found themselves languishing in 13th place; the pressure beginning to mount of Jos Luhukay in the Hertha hot-seat. However for the visitors, it has been a great start; they come into this round of fixtures in 6th position. Both sides come into the game with 6 points from their last 5 matches.
Luhukay made two changes to the side that was defeated 3-1 away to Paderborn; Marvin Plattenhardt and Genki Haraguchi replacing Marcel N'Djeng and Peter Niemeyer. Tayfun Korkut also made two changes to his side, Ceyhun Gülselam and Stefan Thesker coming in for Edgar Prib and Maurice Hirsch. The last time the two sides met in the capital resulted in a 3-0 victory for Hannover.
The visitors started the better and would go close through summer signing Hiroshi Kiyotake. A good take down by Jimmy Briand landed at the feet of the on-rushing Japanese play-maker; but his eventual effort wouldn't be too difficult for Thomas Kraft. Hertha grew into the match and would go close themselves; a lapse of concentration in the Hannover defence allowed Genki Haraguchi to play the ball to Salomon Kalou, the ball was scrambled towards the by-line where Valentin Stocker's eventual effort hit the side-netting.
The deadlock would be broken in the 44th minute. A corner from the right hand side was whipped in by Kiyotake which was met and volleyed by Briand, powering the ball past the on-looking Thomas Kraft. 1-0 to Die Roten and Briand's first goal for Hannover.
Hannover looked to have doubled their lead early in the second half; after some ricochet in the Hertha defence the ball landed at the feat of Leonardo Bittencourt, who squared for Kiyotake who beat Kraft. As the celebrations from the visiting fans and players were dying down, from out of nowhere the goal was overturned, the linesman had given offside. Further inspection showed the officials where correct, as the final deflection had come of Kiyotake meaning Bittencourt was miles offside; but the sheer delay of the decision raised controversy.
But it wouldn't matter for the away side as in the 75th minute they'd double their lead. A mistake from summer signing, Marvin Plattenhardt allowed Bittencourt to pick out Kiyotake unmarked on the edge of the Hertha box. He expertly beat one of the plethora of new Hertha players, Per Ciljan Skjelbred and calmly slotted past the helpless Kraft. The points looked certain for Die Roten, which would give them their second consecutive victory against the capital club.
The result see's Hannover climb to 4th position, ahead of Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen who are yet to play. Whereas, it's another defeat for Hertha who have had a very disappointing start to the season. Next up for Die Roten is a home fixture against Leverkusen; whereas for Die Alte Dame it's a trip to FC Köln. The pressure is mounting on Jos Luhukay and it remains to be seen if he'll still be in a job come the next round of fixtures.