1. FC Köln fell to a 1:0 defeat against Hannover 96 on Sunday afternoon at the Heinz von Heiden Arena. After a goalless first-half, Leart Paçarada was sent off just five minutes into the second period. Hannover took advantage and Lars Gindorf’s strike in the 57th minute proved to be decisive.
Team news
Lars Barlemann took temporary charge of Hannover during the week after André Breitenreiter’s dismissal and made four alterations to the side that began the 3:1 defeat to Darmstadt. Sei Muroya, Bartlomiej Wdowik, Kolja Oudenne and Havard Nielsen were repalced by Boris Tomiak, Brooklyn Ezeh, Lars Gindorf and Thaddäus Momuluh.
Gerhard Struber named an unchanged starting line-up after the 3:1 win against SC Preußen Münster a week prior.
Level at the break
Hannover were the better side in the first-half and regularly tested Marvin Schwäbe in the FC goal. However, their best chance in the opening 45 minutes failed to find the target. Hyunju Lee turned Timo Hübers inside the box but was unable to direct his effort on goal from 10 yards out.
Despite Schwäbe’s saves and Hannover’s pressure, FC did manage to create openings of their own. Florian Kainz’s cross was narrowly missed by both Damion Downs and Luca Waldschmidt in the middle. Kainz himself had FC’s best opportunity, though he was denied by a strong one-on-one save from Ron-Robert Zieler.
Gindorf’s goal wins it
The second-half did not start out the way FC wanted. Hannover came out the dressing room the stronger of the two sides and Leart Paçarada was shown a second yellow card for an early foul. Eight minutes after that foul, Hannover made their man advantage pay. A free-kick was played out to the edge of the box where Lars Gindorf took his time and fired into the top corner to leave Marvin Schwäbe helpless.
FC created two great openings at the very end of the six minutes of added time to almost rescue a point. Josh Knight cleared Dejan Ljubičić’s drive off the line before Max Finkgräfe volleyed into the side-netting from the resulting corner.
Despite the defeat, Struber’s side remain in first place ahead of the final three games. FC are next in action on Saturday, 3rd May against SSV Jahn Regensburg. Kick-off at the RheinEnergieSTADION is at 20:30 CEST.
Line-ups
Hannover 96 (4-4-2): Zieler – Neumann, Tomiak (Dehm 69’), Halstenberg, Ezeh (Knight 79’) – Lee (Oudenne 69’), Kunze, Leopold, Gindorf (Nielsen 79’) – Momuluh (Voglsammer 88’), Tresoldi.
1. FC Köln (4-2-3-1): Schwäbe – Thielmann, Hübers, Heintz, Paçarada (Finkgräfe 53’) – Ljubičić, Martel – Lemperle, Waldschmidt, Kainz (Huseinbašić 58’) – Downs (Uth 74’).
Goal: 1:0, Gindorf 57’.
Referee: Timo Gansloweit (Dortmund).
Booked: Neumann (48’), Finkgräfe (56’), Ezeh (62’), Kunze (77’), Zieler (78’), Heintz (82’), Halstenberg (83’).
Sent-off: Paçarada (50’).
Attendance: 49,000 (sold-out).