1-0 defeat against league leaders Holstein Kiel

... that ended in defeat

Hamburger SV came out with real vigour for the second half, turned up the pressure and pushed Kiel into their own half as they came close to opening the scoring. Rothe and Weiner came to the rescue on the line to keep out Pherai and Glatzel’s efforts and keep it at 0-0. The game’s opening goal then almost came in the 55th minute. A quick counterattack ended with Holtby having a free pop at goal, but Reis slid in to keep the ball out of the net and keep the scores level.

However, HSV went behind four minutes later. After heading the ball away from danger following a corner, it fell to Holtby once again, and as his shot sailed towards the far post, Rothe stuck a foot out and deflected the ball in under the bar. The goal meant that HSV had to work their way back into the game not only against the league leaders, but also against a team that hadn’t conceded a single goal in their last five league matches. However, Baumgart’s side set out to do so and created several chances for themselves, before being helped out when Holtby received a second yellow and his marching orders. This meant that die Rothosen went into the closing phase of the game with an extra man. Baumgart made some attacking changes including Jatta, Dompe and Nemeth, as the hosts gave it one final push. His players gave it their all, but the resolute Kiel defence threw themselves at every cross and every shot made in the remainder of the match. Even when HSV managed to get a shot away, as substitute Suhonen let fly, this flew narrowly past the post. This meant that Kiel secured their sixth successive victory and HSV were made to contend with a bitter defeat in front of a, once again, sold out Volksparkstadion crowd.