A stellar performance from Philipp Tschauner and Martin Harnik's solitary strike helped Hannover 96 to a 1-0 win over a wasteful 1860 Munich.
Team news
With the change in leadership at the head of the club that saw Horst Heldt take over as sporting director, Daniel Stendel was feeling the heat especially after their 2-0 defeat at Karlsruher SC. He restored Salif Sané, Edgar Prib, Sebastian Maier and Felix Klaus to the line-up in place of Oliver Sorg, Miiko Albornoz, Uffe Bech, Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee.
Vitor Pereira had told the media before the game that despite their loss last weekend to FC St. Pauli, he wanted consistency. True to form, he named an unchanged side.
Tschauner keeps Lions at bay
In what was a rather dull start to a game both sides needed to win, it was perhaps expected that neither would commit themselves to getting an early lead.
The biggest chance of the half came from a mistake, and a sizeable one from Sané. He was dispossessed by Amilton and the Brazilian darted through on goal, faced by Philipp Tschauner. The 'keeper didn't blink and made himself big to deny him, with Pereira livid on the sidelines that they had passed up an excellent opportunity.
A close game that would be decided by the small margins again saw 1860 waste a great chance. A really clever pass through the Hannover defence from Romuald Lacazette caught everyone but Stefan Aigner cold. One-on-one with Tschauner, he won the battle of wits once more and halted Aigner's run as the half-time whistle sounded.
Harnik scores the winner
Aside from the change just before the break, where Sarenren Bazee replaced Kenan Karaman, the teams resumed as they were prior to the restart. However, it was still very much 1860 in control. They had another effort at goal shortly after the second half had got underway, though Tschauner gathered yet again.
As football tends to go, it was no surprise that Hannover marched down the other end and immediately took the lead. It was strong play from substitute, Sarenren Bazee as he bundled through an attempted clearance to keep hold of the ball. The Lions lost track of Harnik in the mayhem and a simple pass and finish earned a vital lead.
1860 continued to keep the pressure on after the goal, with Hannover limited to chances on the break in an attempt to double their lead. A few half chances came and went as quickly as they were created, as both managers made changes around the hour mark in order to give their teams renewed effort for the final sprint.
However, there would be only one side that created any meaningful moments in the latter stages. Levent Aycicek had Tschauner tip his cross onto the bar before Aigner put the rebound into the side-netting. Their final chance fell from a goal-mouth scramble at a corner, which ended up with Iver Fossum hacking the ball clear.
Hannover were relieved to hear the final whistle, and it meant they had closed the gap to leaders, VfB Stuttgart to four points.