difficult day against Wolfsburg.

By: Helmut | May 17th, 2009

96’s final home appearance of the season, the Niedersachsenderby against Wolfsburg, ended in a 5-0 defeat.

Despite the sunny afternoon and the capacity crowd in full voice, Wolfsburg’s striking tandem of Edin Džeko and Grafite cut through weaknesses in 96’s defending problems that have been compromised by injuries. Dieter Hecking adjusted last weeks starting eleven to include Michael Tarnat and Frank Fahrenhorst, with the latter making his final home appearance before joining MSV Duisburg this summer. After a fine opening ten minutes by 96, the day turned bleak as Wolfsburg began to dominate. Unable to control Džeko, the Bosnian opened the scoring near the quarter-hour as he chested down Makoto Hasebe’s chip pass and sent the ball in from near the edge of the area. At the thirty-third minute Grafite out maneuvered Mario Eggimann to receive the ball from Džeko before firing in from the six yard box. That approach was duplicated a few minutes later as Grafite beat Vinícius before firing in Christian Gentner’s cross. Mikael Forssell had a perfect chance to draw a goal back for 96 before the break as he broke free in on Diego Benaglio but the Wolfsburg goalkeeper could not be fooled. Knowing the Bundesliga title could be decided on goal differential Wolfsburg added two more goals after the break, each by Džeko.

96’s season comes to a close as they travel to Bielefeld next week with great promise for next year when health issues are eliminated.

At this time I wish thank those who have visited the blog. It has been a pleasure telling you of Hannover and I hope each of you will become a fan and follow the club regularly. After the final match review and summary I will be parting with the blog and along with readers, wish to thank The Offside for their support.