A solitary strike from Felix Klaus in the seventh minute was enough to see Hannover 96 earn a 1-0 victory over Karlsruher SC.
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For Hannover, Daniel Stendel opted for two changes as Sebastian Maier and Niclas Füllkrug were surprisingly benched. The duo of Oliver Sorg and Kenan Karaman got the chance to start the game in their place. Tomas Oral's side, on the other hand, remained unchanged from a 1-1 draw with FC St. Pauli.
Karlsruhe can't get started as Hannover dominate
Hannover were dominant from the start and took a deserved lead just seven minutes in. Miiko Albornoz provided the perfect delivery to the back post with a 35-yard free-kick, and Stefan Strandberg rose above Franck Kom to head the ball back to Klaus. The former SC Freiburg man made no mistake with a close range half volley.
Karlsruhe were struggling to get anything going in the way of a passing game. Any balls down the channels were easily cut out, and it didn't help that they weren't winning any knock downs in midfield. Instead it was Hannover who almost added to their lead, with Klaus' driving run and cross narrowly missing Artur Sobiech at the back post.
Kom wasn't having an ideal afternoon and a yellow card midway through the half made up Oral's mind to bring him off after half an hour. His replacement, Yann Rolim duly followed in his midfield partner's footsteps by bringing down a rampaging Klaus to pick up a booking after just four minutes on the pitch.
The hosts almost went into the break having doubled their lead after Waldemar Anton went on a mazy run to set-up Iver Fossum but his effort was cleared off the line by Enrico Valentini. It was far from an impressive performance by the hosts but they were still streets ahead of KSC.
Stale second period sees hosts stroll to three points
Shawn Barry made way for Florian Kamberi at the break following a very quiet first half, but that made no real difference to Oral's side. Instead it was Stendel trying to get his Hannover side to up the pace and take full advantage of their sluggish opponents, but the final pass was missing on each occasion they got into the final third.
It wasn't until the 65th minute when either side fashioned a chance of note, and it was no surprise when it was the hosts who came close to putting the game beyond doubt. Despite having six players in the area, Karlsruhe failed to pick up Karaman but his header was easy pickings for René Vollath.
Towards the final 20 minutes, KSC eventually began to come forward. Charis Mavrias whipped a volley past the post before Moritz Stoppelkamp's free-kick was tipped over by Philipp Tschauner, who had largely been a mere spectator up to that point in the game.
That small spurt was all they could muster as Füllkrug came close to adding the lead, only to be denied by a sturdy Martin Stoll block. The game ended 1-0 and seen Hannover jump into second. Karlsruhe, on the other hand, now sit second bottom and remain without a win this season.