Hunt the matchwinner as HSV return to winning ways

Hunt sweeps home the winner

The second half almost started in the worst possible way, as Regensburg had the ball in the net three minutes after the restart but Jann George's effort was correctly ruled out after a push from Andreas Albers in the build-up. And Hamburg's luck was very much in, as the Rothosen went up the other end and retook the lead through captain Aaron Hunt in the 50th minute. A long ball was controlled excellently by Bakery Jatta, and the ball was spread wide to the advancing Tim Leibold who drove to the byline and passed back into the path of Hunt, who swept in from eight yards out to put Hamburg back in charge. Martin Harnik should have doubled the home side's lead only five minutes later, as patient build-up play saw the ball fed wide to Tim Leibold again, whose sumptuous left-footed cross found the Austrian free ten yards from goal, but the 30-year-old could only steer his header into the arms of a grateful Alex Meyer in the Regensburg goal.

Similarly to the first goal, the away side came back strongly after conceding, testing the Rothosen's resolve with a barrage of long throws and long balls which the Hamburg backline was equal to. As the game entered the final quarter of an hour, the home side looked to make the game safe, as space opened up with the away side pushing for the equaliser. Alex Meyer made two acrobatic saves ten minutes from time as first a Lukas Hinterseer header from a Aaron Hunt cross was tipped round the post, before Bakery Jatta's rasping drive was superbly touched over the bar by the former HSV stopper. Jordan Beyer's head injury overshadowed the closing stages, as the right-back was carried off on a stretcher after his head connected with Sebastian Nachreiner's knee from a Hunt free-kick. Despite eight minutes of added time and a number of long throws and set pieces, the Rothosen displayed great resolve to secure the first win in four. Dieter Hecking will be hoping for a similar result next Friday in Fürth.