A Deserved Point on the Road

In the away game at Hamburger SV, the Lilies had their first chance after just eight minutes: Isac Lidberg asserted himself strongly against his opponent, tried from a tight angle and saw his shot cannon off the post. The hosts did better two minutes later and took advantage of their first chance when Königsdörffer scored precisely in front of Marcel Schuhen. A goal that came against the run of play considering the bright start made by the Lilies.

The 98ers remained the much more active team later on and played patiently forward, only rarely managing to get into good finishing positions. After 33 minutes the spell was broken: Following a free kick, Killian Corredor crossed the ball into the middle and Aleksander Vukotic rose highest in the middle to head home.

Shortly before the half-time whistle, Lidberg and Andreas Müller both had chances to put us ahead but failed to take their chances. Then, again out of nowhere, Hamburg retook the lead: after a quickly taken free kick, Karabec scored unstoppably effort to make it 2-1. A few seconds later, Corredor had a great chance to equalise, but shot the ball over the box and Hamburg went into the dressing room with a lucky lead.

After the break, the home team had their best phase of the party and forced Schuhen into saves twice, but with shots from Muheim, three minutes into the half and then Mikelbrencis
in the 54th minute. The Lilies also repeatedly got into the dangerous zone, but usually couldn’t find the last gap to score.

After a little more than an hour, a nice combination was finally rewarded: Sergio López crossed to the far post, the Hamburg fullback misjudged the flight of the ball allowing Corredor to chest the ball down and stroke the ball home. In the 70th minute, Vukotic headed the ball again from a free kick, but this time he headed it over the crossbar. The hosts were also dangerous with their heads, but the Lilies were lucky and Elfadli’s attempt hit the crossbar on 75 minutes.

In the final minutes, both teams tried to leave the pitch as winners. Five minutes before the end, Schuhen parried a header from Selke. A little later, substitute Oscar Vilhelmsson put the ball just past the box on 87 minutes. Heuer Fernandes kept Hamburg on terms in the 88th minute as he pushed away a free kick from Fabian Nürnberger and then denied Vilhelmsson. In stoppage time, HSV again developed a small phase of pressure and should have won it through Selke but he failed to hit the ball cleanly with the goal at his mercy.