Cologne, Oct 19 (IANS) German football club Hannover overcame Cologne 1-0 with Leon Andreasen’s controversial goal in the ninth round of Bundesliga here.
Andreasen’s clear handball goal smoothed the way for the Reds to reap their second straight win on Sunday. Cologne dictated the pace against passive their visitors from Lower Saxony. Yet, the dominant hosts failed to produce clear-cut opportunities, reports Xinhua.
Thus, Hannover punished the commanding hosts as Andreasen tapped home a flicked on corner kick with his right arm in the 38th minute. However, referee Bastian Dankert did not disallow the obvious handball goal.
Cologne continued to control the proceedings but failed to overcome Hannover’s goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, who defused efforts from Anthony Modeste, Milos Jojic and Philipp Hosiner in the closing period.
With the result, Hannover wrapped up their second win in row and climbed to 14th place whereas Cologne suffered their third loss of the season to drop from fifth to seventh.
“We can’t blame our team. They gave everything but failed to make use of their chances. It is, however, very upsetting to lose through a handball,” Cologne’s sporting director Joerg Schmadtke said.
Elsewhere, bottom team Stuttgart sealed their only second win of the campaign as Daniel Didavi scored the only goal of the match against newly promoted Ingolstadt.
Ingolstadt had the golden chance to break the deadlock after Martin Harnik felled Benjamin Huebner causing a foul play penalty with just three minutes into the game. Nevertheless, the visitors squandered the chance to grab an early lead as Stuttgart goalkeeper Prezemyslav Tyton saved Mathew Leckie’s weak shot from the spot.
Daniel Didavi punished wasteful Ingolstadt and made the game safe with his winner in the 59th minute to inflict newly promoted visitors the third loss of the season.
Stuttgart jump from last place to 15th whereas Ingolstadt slipped to eighth.