SC Paderborn made the relatively short trip to the SGI-Arena to take on Hannover 96, in what would be the final clash in Matchday 21 in the Bundesliga.
Tayfun Korkut's side had endured a poor start to the Rückrunde, picking up a measly one point from the nine available to the side from Lower Saxony; this reflecting the general disappointing story so far for Die Roten. Korkut made only one change to the sider that were defeated at the Imtech Arena last time out; in came winter signing Joao Pereira, recruited from Valencia CF, for the Japanese right fullback Hiroki Sakai.
It'd been a similar story for André Breitenreiter and SC Paderborn at the beginning of the Rückrunde. After enjoying a superb start to their debut season in Germany's top flight, the club from Westphalia now find themselves in 17th position after SC Freiburg's earlier win. Following on from last week’s stalemate at FC Köln, Breitenreiter made three changes. In came Florian Hartherz, Mario Vrančić and Patrick Ziegler for Moritz Stoppelkamp, Daniel Brückner and Lukas Rupp. Winter signing, Srđan Lakić would have to settle for a place on the bench as Elias Kachunga was preferred at striker.
The hosts enjoyed a better start and were exerting some serious pressure of the Paderborn backline. The ever impressing Lars Stindl working an intricate pass to Hiroshi Kiyotake; who was an inch away from tee-ing up Jimmy Briand for his third of the campaign.
Though the visitors also had their own chances, Florian Hartherz getting into a good position towards the by-line; but just as with their opponents the final ball wasn't good enough.
But it was the hosts who were firmly in control, and were growing in confidence with every foray into the Paderborn half. They'd have took the lead but Joselu, who was deemed to be in an offside position, deflected Lars Stindl's goal bound effort. Die Roten also had two equally good chances through Kiyotake and once again Stindl, but as with the underlying tone of the game, the final ball wasn't good enough and was easy to defend for the Paderborn back line.
Just as it looked like we'd be heading into the half goal-less the away side reminded everyone that they were still in the competition; Alban Meha cutting in onto his stronger right foot and letting fly an effort towards Ron Robert Zieler, who in his first meaningful action of the game saved well.
Christian Schulz was removed at halftime with Polish striker, Artur Sobiech who scored last week at Hamburg. A bold and committed move from Tayfun Korkut, who was clearly on the hunt for all three points; deploying two central strikers for the second period. Salif Sané moved back to into the defence.
However this change seemingly had no effect on Die Roten's pattern of play; it even allowed the SC Paderborn fullbacks more room to push on and cause the Hannover defence more problems.
It would present a great opportunity to the traveling side and as Süleyman Koç rounded Zieler it looked certain that the struggling visitors would take the lead. However some superb defending from Miiko Albornoz kept the scores level.
This chance seemed to spark the game into life and only moments later, arguably against the run of play, the hosts would take the lead. A free-kick whipped in from wide by club captain Stindl was flicked on by Joselu, which was met at the back post by the big Brazilian central defender, Marcelo who beat Lukas Kruse in the Paderborn net. Marcelo making up for his own personal horror show last time out, where he scored two own goals in the 2-1 defeat at the Imtech Arena.
Shortly after, Breitenreiter threw all caution to the wind replacing the defensive minded Patrick Ziegler with forward Srđan Lakić, signed from 1. Kaiserslautern in the Winter break and this change would pay off only minutes later as the towering Croat pulled Paderborn level.
A great ball played in from Michael Heinloth found the head of Lakić, who stooped his header back across the goal, giving Zieler no chance to react. A thoroughly deserved equaliser for Paderborn who had, had the better of the play in the second period.
It looked as if it'd need a real piece of quality to grab a winner, and that's what we got only five minutes later as the side who hadn't scored in over 800 minutes scored two in a matter of moments. Sané who had been moved back into defence gave away a foul on the edge of the box, picking up a yellow card for his troubles. Up stepped Alban Meha, renowned for his set pieces, unleashing a swerving effort over the head of Zieler and giving the visitors a lead only fifteen minutes or so after they had fell behind.
Whilst the goal should've sparked the hosts into life, it was the away side that looked more likely to add to their lead. Rafael López and Uwe Hünemeier at the back were performing brilliantly, keeping any Hannover attacks at bay.
That was how it'd finish at the SGI-Arena, with André Breitenreiter side picking up their first victory since early November. The result sees Hannover remain in 10th place, next up for Die Roten is a trip to FC Köln. Whilst for the visitors the result sees them move up six places, up into 12th; a home match against Bayern Munich beckons next weekend for Breitenreiter side.