Nürnberg 1 - 3 Hamburg SV
HSV won their Bundesliga round 20 match away to Nürnbereg 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. A crowd of 30,000 saw a brace of goals by Naohiro Takahara and a late strike by Benny Lauth bring home the bacon for coach Thomas Doll’s side. HSV now moves up to 7th place in the Bundesliga table and nicely poised to go for the European places near the top of the table.
Surprise changes
The HSV coach Doll made three changes to the side which beat Mainz 2-1 at home in round 19. Boulahrouz came in for Reinhardt, Jarolim returned from suspension and took the place of Moreira in midfield. The biggest surprise for the hordes of HSV fans that made the trip was the inclusion of Takahara in the starting line-up instead of Mpenza.
Initial stalemate
Beautiful sunshine greeted both sides as they took to the pitch in the Frankenstadion, and both sides made a bright start to the match. The home side pushed forward as did HSV. Both sides failed to produce a telling pass at first, so it took until the 19th minute for any goalmouth action to occur. Banovic fired in a well struck free kick, which Pieckenhagen was grateful to see clear his bar by inches
Taka on target!
The home side suffered an injury blow, as their striker Schroth was forced to go off halfway through the first half. HSV began to take control of the match and on 31 minutes Sergej Barbarez hit a superb cross field ball which Takahara controlled well on his chest before firing in a fine left foot shot to give the Hamburg side the lead.
Piecke unemployed!
The home side tried their best to have a go but never managed to trouble Pieckenhagen before half time, apart from a wayward effort by Wagefeld, which went wide. Both sides came out unchanged for the start of the second half and the crowd saw HSV take control once again. The visiting side seemed content to have possession and sit back and wait for Nürnberg to come at them. That gave HSV the chance to counter attack.
Taka makes it 2-0
A long clearance from the edge of his own area by Wicky on 53 minutes fell into the path of Takahara, who strode past Hajto before drawing the Nürnberg keeper Klewer and slotting home right footed and double his side’s lead. The Nippon striker could have had a hat trick but a superb diving header on 56 minutes flew inches past the post.
Late consolation goal
Ass skipper Daniel van Buyten was off the pitch receiving treatment for a head wound, Hajto put a long throw in into the HSV box where it caused confusion among the visiting defence. Vittek somehow managed to somehow get a touch on the ball to pull a goal back for Nürnberg on 82 minutes. Five minutes later, second half substitute Benny Lauth was forced to clear off his own line as the home side threatened.
Benny likes playing Nürnberg..!
In the last minute of the match Emile Mpenza fluffed a chance while in space in front of the home keeper. Benny Lauth went one better in the second minute of injury time, as HSV counter attacked through Mpenza and Lauth. The Belgian striker unselfishly passed square to the better positioned Lauth, who scored his third goal in as many appearances for his new club. On his Bundesliga debut against Nürnberg in the AOL Arena during the first half of the season, it was Lauth who came on late and scored a dramatic winner.
Things ticking along nicely
The win in round 20 takes HSV up to 7th in the Bundesliga table, while Nürnberg can not allow themselves to feel by any means safe…
Nürnberg: Klewer - Wolf, Hajto, Nikl, Müller - Wagefeld, Lagerblom, Banovic (57.Kießling), Mintal - Daun (61.Ketelaer), Schroth, (21.Vittek)
HSV: Pieckenhagen - Schlicke, van Buyten, Boulahrouz, Klingbeil - Wicky (57.Benjamin), Mahdavikia (83.Lauth), Beinlich, Jarolim - Barbarez, Takahara (77.Mpenza)
Goals: 0:1 Takahara (31.), 0:2 Takahara (53.), 1:2 Vittek (82.), 1:3 Lauth (90.)
Source: HSV.de
BUNDESLIGA
Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern 20 41
2. Schalke 20 38
3. Stuttgart 20 35
4. Bremen 20 34
5. Hertha 20 33
...
7. Hamburg SV 31
9. Wolfsburg 20 30
