Hannover's rotten run to start 2016 and Thomas Schaaf's time in charge continued this weekend, as Jairo Samperio's goal secured the three points for Mainz.
Schaaf's reign at Hannover had begun badly, losing to both SV Darmstadt 98 and Bayer Leverkusen in his first two games in charge. He needed a reaction from his players and decided to make three changes to achieve that. Alexander Milosevic came in for his debut to replace Marcelo, while Uffe Bech and Christian Schulz took over from Ceyhun Gülselam and Miiko Albornoz.
Things were much more smooth in Mainz, as Martin Schmidt's side continued to pick up points on a regular basis. Despite a disappointing defeat to Ingolstadt to start 2016, a hard-fought victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach got them back on track. New signing Giulio Donati replaced Daniel Brosinski, in what was their only change.
Tough start but Mainz make the breakthrough
Mainz were largely comfortable in the early exchanges, though neither team seemed terribly concerned with going forwards. The main chance of the opening period came to Christian Clemens, who raced towards goal after some steady build-up play. He could not apply a finish to match, scuffing it wide of the post.
The pressure was slowly building through the half and eventually paid off in the 24th minute. Yoshinori Muto broke free down the left and whipped a ball across the box, although no-one was there to meet it. Clemens was on hand to gather up the pieces, picking out Jairo in the centre. The Spaniard didn't make a clean contact but the spin on the shot only helped it drift into the far corner and past the out-stretched Ron-Robert Zieler.
Mainz miss chances to go further ahead
Julian Baumgartlinger almost started the move that could have ended the game as a contest. He stole the ball from Hotaru Yamaguchi, who was substituted soon after, and drove forward with pace and purpose. He eventually picked out Yunus Malli on the left wing, before he cut inside and shot narrowly past the post.
Schmidt's side came even closer through Gaetan Bussmann. Hannover were incredibly vulnerable out on the left and the visitors should have been going into the break with another goal to their name. Bussmann couldn't quite convert from Jairo's smart flick, with the left-back sending a shot screaming across the face of Zieler's net.
Slow start to the second half
The second half was a slow burner from start to finish, mainly because Mainz had recognised the Hannover's attacking threat was little to none. Hugo Almeida had by far their best chance with 20 minutes left, though he drove the ball past the post when it seemed nearly impossible to put the ball off target.
Almeida then had his free-kick beaten away by Loris Karius, in that was his only meaningful save of the match. Clemens then rattled the bar with the final effort of the match, as Mainz's win was finally confirmed with Robert Hartmann's full-time whistle.