A Salif Sané goal finally ended Hannover's long wait for a home win.
Hannover, unsurprisingly, made no changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Wolfsburg last weekend. For Bremen, Viktor Skripnik opted for four alterations. Alejandro Galvez, Florian Grillitsch, Ulisses Garcia and Finn Bartels replaced Assani Lukimya, Levin Öztunali and Claudio Pizarro (all benched), while Felix Kroos didn't make the matchday squad.
Lacklustre first-half
The early stages of the game were full of good intentions, with both sides trying to get forward and get ahead in the game. However, that was not matched by the quality on field as the crucial passes to get through on goal were regularly off target. Some fine inter-play from a corner saw Finn Bartels get free, only to see his shot bravely blocked from the edge of the area.
Bremen thought that they'd be hard done by when Peter Sippel decided not to penalise Christian Schulz for handball inside the area. It was a fair call but handbags ensued, though Sippel finally managed to get the situation back under control.
Finally, after 35 minutes, the game got a meaningful opportunity. Kenan Karaman's cross found Leon Andreasen at the back post but the Dane's powerful half-volley was saved at the near post. Felix Wiedwald made an excellent stop to palm the ball over the bar.
That seemed to spur Bremen on for the remaining first-half minutes, as they struck the bar with the final chance of the half. Anthony Ujah rose highest to meet a deep cross, though he was denied by the woodwork and Ron-Robert Zieler. The Hannover stopper got a slight touch to maintain parity at the break.
Sané finally breaks the deadlock
Zieler was called into action immediately after the restart with Zlatko Junuzovic's free-kick almost finding the bottom corner. That save proved crucial, as Hannover scored from the resulting attack. Hiroshi Kiyotake's corner found Salif Sané, and he towered above his opponents and bulleted a header past Wiedwald and into the back of the net.
Karaman's chip was inches away from giving the home side a two-goal cushion, only for Wiedwald to make a fantastic save to push the ball wide of the post. Claudio Pizarro and Maximillian Eggestein were thrown on to try and spark a comeback but it was Santiago Garcia who came closest to brining his side level, flashing a header across the face of goal.
Bremen had several chances after that, including one for young Eggestein. He rose above everyone else in the area to direct a header towards goal, which required an incredible acrobatic stop from Zieler. Jannik Vestergaard also had a headed effort go just wide and Pizarro too shot wide of the goal. Hannover, somehow, held on to secure all three points for the first time this season.