Early goal makes the difference as S04 beaten by Hannover

A first competitive game for head coach Kees van Wonderen

For his first competitive game as the Royal Blues’ head coach, Kees van Wonderen named goalkeeper Ron-Thorben Hoffmann in the starting eleven, as he had confirmed he would before the match. Justin Heekeren was on the bench. There were two other changes from the game against Hertha BSC, as Felipe Sanchez and Lino Tempelmann both came in.

Hannover take an early lead

It wasn’t the start to the game that Schalke had had planned. In the fourth minute, Enzo Leopold whipped in a free kick from the right and Fabian Kunze got in front of his marker to turn in the opener with a low effort. The hosts created the better chances in the first half, while the Royal Blues struggled to make things happen going forward.

In the 13th minute, Andreas Voglsammer found himself in on goal under pressure from Derry John Murkin, but was denied by a good save from Ron-Thorben Hoffmann. 96 continued to pose a threat from the wings and put dangerous crosses into the box.

Deflected shots come close and Sanchez fires wide

Hannover continued to push forward after the half-hour mark, and Enzo Leopold (32’) and Hyun-ju Lee (33’) both came close with deflected efforts. Leopold’s strike went over the bar, while Lee’s shot fell to Nicolo Tresoldi, who was under pressure from Ron Schallenberg. The ball eventually ended up in the arms of Ron-Thorben Hoffmann.

Schalke’s best chance of the first period arrived in the 40th minute, when Max Grüger lifted a free kick into the penalty area. Phil Neumann cleared, but the ball landed at the feet of Felipe Sanchez on the edge of the box. He let fly, but was slightly off balance and it went wide of the post. Just before the break, Andreas Voglsammer got on the end of a ball-in from Nicolo Tresoldi about seven yards from goal, but Ron-Thorben Hoffmann was there to deny him. The first half therefore finished with Hannover 1-0 up.

Bulut and Grüger combine but can’t set up the shot

The Royal Blues came forward well straight after half time, as Taylan Bulut played a nice one-two with Max Grüger but couldn’t find Moussa Sylla in the middle (46’).

The hosts regained the momentum after that though and dominated possession. They threatened again in the 55th minute, when Tomas Kalas firstly blocked Fabian Kunze’s effort before Taylan Bulut got in the way of Nicolo Tresoldi’s strike.

VAR chalks off second Hannover goal and Lasme and Karaman denied by Zieler

Neither Ron-Thorben Hoffmann nor his opposite number Ron-Robert Zieler had too much to do for most of the remainder of the game. In the 82nd minute, Paul Seguin fired over from a free kick in a good position, while the hosts thought they’d made it 2-0 just two minutes later. However, VAR spotted an offside in the build-up to Jessic Ngankam’s finish.

Schalke piled on the pressure in the end stages, but just couldn’t find the equaliser. Ron-Robert Zieler parried away Bryan Lasme’s shot from around 20 yards out, while Derry John Murkin struck wide from distance (88’). In the 90th minute, Zieler was called into action by Kenan Karaman from around 15 yards out. Karaman will miss the next match in Fürth after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season. The final whistle blew, and Hannover ran out 1-0 winners.

Home game against Fürth

S04 will host SpVgg Greuther Fürth at the VELTINS-Arena next Saturday (26/10). The matchday 10 encounter will again kick off at 13:00 CEST.