In what was a tight and tense encounter from start to finish, Würzburger Kickers and Hannover 96 couldn't be separated on Friday evening as their tussle ended nil-all.
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It was a case of change aplenty for Bernd Hollerbach, as his side draw 1-1 with Karlsruher SC. A ninth winless game was far from ideal and with Rico Benatelli suspended, Valdet Rama, Elia Soriano and Sebastian Ernst were also dropped. Daniel Nagy, Peter Kurzweg, Nejmeddin Daghfous and Marco Königs all started in their place.
Another win for André Breitenreiter followed in midweek, although it was a hard-fought 1-0 win against 1. FC Nürnberg - three points are all that matters at this stage of the season. He made just one alteration from the side that started that game, as Uffe Bech came in for Felix Klaus.
First half struggles to get going
The game was a physical encounter from the get-go, and one which lacked any real quality in the opening 20 minutes. Nagy's snap-shot volley that went wide was a rare effort.
Then came Hannover with the first moment of real cutting edge. A lovely ball down the right from Oliver Sorg found Bech, and a clever cut-back to the edge of the area found Edgar Prib. Unfortunately for the sold out away block, the versatile left-sided player sent his effort agonisingly wide.
Nagy continued to be a source of potential goals for the hosts, although his nutmeg on Miiko Albornoz was cut short from providing a meaningful cross as the ball rolled out of play. Königs then thought he had opened the scoring as Patrick Weihrauch flicked him through on goal and he finished with ease, though it was ruled out for offside.
Late flurry provides no goals
After the break, following Hollerbach's decision to bring on Rama for Nagy, it continued in the same vein as the first. That final ball and touch was still missing when it mattered.
Yet, in the final 20 minutes, the game sparked to life. Niclas Füllkrug managed to feed the ball into the path of Martin Harnik, although an unhelpful bounce before he went to strike the ball saw him scuff his shot onto the post. Würzburg then hit back themselves, with Kurzweg bringing the first save out of Philipp Tschauner with a simple header.
Soriano then volleyed straight at Tschauner, who managed to push the ball over the bar awkwardly. The final chance of the game fell for Klaus, though his decision to pass across goal instead of shooting summed the game up. Hannover remain top but could find themselves fourth by the end of the weekend, Würzburg still look over their shoulder.