Accompanied by massive fan protests again against the entry of investors into German professional football, Hannover 96 has fueled its hopes of promotion.
Coach Stefan Leitl’s team won their home game in the 2nd Bundesliga against relegation candidate Hansa Rostock 2-1 (1-1) and moved within five points of the relegation place.
The game had to be interrupted for a total of around 20 minutes after tennis balls continued to fly from the stands onto the field.
Marcel Halstenberg (78th), who was shown a red card shortly before the final whistle for kicking, ensured the second win in a row. An own goal from Kevin Schumacher (4th) put the favorites in the lead before Kai Pröger (45th + 5th) equalized. After the success against Elversberg last week, Rostock is still in the relegation zone.
In terms of sport, Hannover got off to a dream start, Schumacher deflected the first corner of the game from birthday boy Derrick Köhn into his own goal. After that, there was hardly any flow of play because of the protests. Hannover handled the strange situation a little better and created more chances. Pröger’s equalizer after a fatal bad pass from Ron-Robert Zieler came out of nowhere. In total, the first half lasted a good 65 minutes.
In the second half, an intense battle of attrition developed in the midfield, Andreas Voglsammer initially failed with the best chance ahead of Markus Kolke (70th). Then Halstenberg pushed another corner from Köhn over the line at the second post. In the final phase Zieler had to save a few more times.