Borussia Dortmund made it four wins out of four in the Bundesliga, with entertaining victory at the HDI Arena.
Hannover less-than impressive start to the season continued before the international break. The pressure was mounting on Michael Frontzeck and he made a several changes following defeat to 1. FSV Mainz 05. Christian Schulz, Manuel Schmiedebach, Felix Klaus, Uffe Bech and Charliston Benschop dropped out, as Felipe, Miiko Albornoz, Leon Andreasen, Hiroshi Kiyotake and Artur Sobiech earned starting berths.
As for Borussia Dortmund and Thomas Tuchel, it was a match made in heaven. A win in every competitive game in charge coming into the game was a quite impressive record, although they would be without Marco Reus after he injured his toe during the win over Hertha BSC before the break. He was replaced by Jonas Hofmann in the only change from the side that won 3-1 against Hertha.
Dortmund dominate, but Hannover lead
Dortmund began positively and went close from distant three times in quick succession. Julian Weigl and Shinji Kagawa had efforts that slipped just past the post, while Ron-Robert Zieler had to be at his best to palm away Henrikh Mkhitaryan's drive. Hannover were restricted to set-pieces but their deliveries were calling a confident Roman Bürki into action.
Despite Dortmund's slick play causing problems for the Hannover defence, it would be the hosts' that would produce their own move to cut open Tuchel's side and edge ahead. A lovely ball from Kiyotake was threaded through to Andreasen, who unselfishly cut back towards the free Sobiech. The Polish forward made no mistake in tapping into the open goal, shocking even the home fans.
BVB turn things around late on
However, the visitors continued to push forward and got their chance to equalise from the spot. Felipe clumsly went through the back of Hofmann, leaving Daniel Siebert no chance but to award a penalty. With Reus injured Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stepped up and confidently dispatched the spot-kick, sending Zieler the wrong way.
They were continuing to hound and hassle Hannover all over the pitch and Dortmund got their reward. Jonas Hofmann's delivery was pin-point for Mkhitaryan, who connected perfectly with the cross to strike a magnificent volley into the opposite corner from 20 yards. A quite stunning strike to give his side the lead at the break.
Second half sees Hannover restore parity
The second half brought more set-piece chances for the hosts, who were looking increasingly like they could force a way back into the game. They were to be denied, however, as the Dortmund defence dealt with the threat well. That was until Mats Hummels' lapse in concentration.
A seemingly harmless ball from Edgar Prib was heading towards Hummels, but the BVB centre-half somehow missed his header and allowed Sobiech to collect and fire home behind him. The Pole controlled before blasting home a half-volley into the bottom corner, with Bürki powerless to prevent it finding the back of the net.
BVB go ahead once again
Dortmund came back at their opponents and with Adnan Januzaj and Gonzalo Castro now on, they had the fresh legs to push on. BVB found just that, but it looked like they'd passed up an opportunity to go in front after Aubameyang couldn't quite reach a ball across the face of goal.
This time, he had Felipe to thank for saving him the bother of tapping it in. An almost identical situation seen the Brazilian defender poke past Zieler, who couldn't believe his luck. As if it couldn't get any worse for the defender, it could and would.
After already giving away a penalty and scoring an own goal, he handled Kagawa's cross in the area. Hannover protested the decision but Siebert's mind was made up and Aubameyang scored his second of the afternoon, delightfully chipping the ball down the middle to seal a hard-fought win. They remain top but were pushed all the way by a desperately unlucky Hannover side.