Football United

HSV’s superb run of form continued on Saturday afternoon, as coach Thomas Doll’s side beat fifth placed Hertha in front of 54,129 inside the AOL Arena. The home side goals came by way of an own goal by the Hertha defender van Burik, and a penalty by Mehdi Mahdavikia six minutes later. Bastürk replied for the visitors on 76 minutes but by that time it was simply too little too late.

Dream start for HSV!
Hertha, without Joe Simunic (toe injury) and Malik Fathi (foot problem), had big plans for their top five visit to the AOL Arena in round 16 of the Bundesliga. Those plans were dealt a bitter blow after only two minutes, as a corner taken on the right by the former Hertha midfielder Stefan Beinlich was back headed by Marko Pantelic onto the body of Dick van Burik, who could not prevent the ball going into his own net.

Van Burik concedes penalty
It was a cruel blow for the capital city club, but things got worse only four minutes later, and van Burik was involved again. The veteran Dutch defender fouled Emile Mpenza inside the area, and the match referee Dr. Markus Merk pointed straight to the spot. As if that wasn’t bad enough for Hertha, van Burik tore a muscle as he fouled the Belgian striker and was replaced by Sofian Chahed in defence. Up stepped HSV’s Iranian international Mehdi Mahdavikia to slot the ball past Christian Fiedler flach into the bottom left hand corner, 2-0 to HSV!

Double chance for Mpenza
With an early two goal advantage in their favour, second placed HSV began to dominate the match. On 16 minutes, the home side (without Rafael van der Vaart and David Jarolim) should have gone further ahead as Beinlich struck the inside of Fiedler’s left hand post with a curling free kick. The rebound was taken on the volley by Mpenza, who could only fire the ball at the Hertha keeper who punched the ball, of his line and back to Mpenza, who blasted his second chance wide. Hertha tried to grab a goal back, but met their match in the superb home defence which has only conceded a miserly 8 goals in 16 Bundesliga matches so far this season.



Pantelic can't score away
Typical for Hertha’s performance in Hamburg were the chances missed by their Serbian striker Marko Pantelic. On 32 minutes, Berlin created their first chance of the match as Pantelic could only fire a free kick into the wall. Pantelic had a much better opportunity just before the break. This time, Pantelic headed over an Arne Friedrich cross from 5 metres out. What a chance! HSV went into the break two goals ahead.

Marcelinho off !
HSV began the second half in patient mood, allowing Hertha to take the initiative. Although they had more possession, the capital city side was harmless in front of goal. On 51 minutes, disaster struck again for the Hertha coach Falko Götz, who could only watch as his star midfielder Marcelinho was sent off for over reacting to a challenge by HSV’s striker Benny Lauth. Strangely, Hertha appeared to improve after going a man down.

Kirschstein gives away a goal
A mistake by the HSV stand in keeper Sascha Kirschstein gave Hertha a goal, as the keeper allowed a weak shot by Bastürk to squirm under his body on 76 minutes. From then on it was all Hertha, as HSV struggled to loosen the grip that the capital city side had on them at that point in time. HSV however, managed to hold on to their lead until the end and on the balance of play deserved their victory which has brought them to within one point of Bayern Munich at the top of the table. The Munich side play bottom placed Kaiserslautern on Sunday.



HSV: Kirschstein - Demel (72. Takyi), Boulahrouz, van Buyten, Atouba - Mahdavikia, Trochowski, Beinlich - Barbarez - Lauth (59. Ziegler), Mpenza (90. Takahara)

Hertha: Fiedler - Friedrich, van Burik (9. Chahed), Madlung, Marx (57. Zecke) - Kovac - Boateng (88. Samba), Bastürk, Gilberto - Marcelinho - Pantelic

Goals: 1:0 van Burik (2., o.g), 2:0 Mahdavikia (8., pen.), 2:1 Bastürk (76.)

Source: HSV.de, uefa.com

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern Munchen 16 41
2. Hamburg 16 37
3. Bremen 16 35
4. Schalke 16 31
5. Hertha 16 25