Hannover 96 3 1.FC Nürnberg 1

                                               









Funny old game, this one. I wasn't really looking forward to it as there was not much at stake for either teams. If Mainz failed to win, Hannover would claim 4th spot. Nürnberg had already nailed the 6th spot but could not go any higher. But as soon as I was in the stadium, there was a party atmosphere.
 I took to my seat as usual, whereby I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned round to find a man with a cigar in his mouth, waving his ticket in my face. "What do you want?", I politely asked in German. He continued to wave his ticket and point at my seat. I must admit....I lost my rag. When people show me no respect, I show them none in return. This also includes me bothering to converse in their own language, so I hit him with this witty reposte - 

"Take that stogie out of your north, stop flapping about like a pregnant seagull and liven yourself up".

  He looked bemused and moved on. Obviously he had the wrong row of seating. Tip: Learn to read before tapping me on the shoulder and wanting me to move.

Before the game kicked off, we bade farewell to three players. Mikael Forssell, who in truth was never going to have a future with Hannover, especially after the signings of Ya Konan and Abdelloue. Shame, he could still do a job and we have shared some good banter on Twitter.
  Goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz, who I am sad to see leaving. Not only is he an excellent keeper, the way he handled himself after the death of Robert Enke last season, showed a maturity beyond his years. In Zieler, we do have a great young keeper, and "Flo" obviously needs to be playing first team football. I wish him all the best.
 Lastly, Constant Djapka. Another good player, he was on loan from Leverkusen and used to do a somersault whenever we scored. 

Nürnberg fans tribute to Mintal

                The Nürnberg fans said goodbye to their striker Marek Mintal, who after 8 years is leaving the club. They had a terrific chant to the tune of The Flintstones for him. 

The game was quite open, both teams playing some good football. Mehmet Ekici was running the midfield for "The Club" and Hannover although posing no real threat, were showboating a bit.

After 25 minutes, the ball was played through to Wießmeier, with Zieler rushing out to close him down, he expertly lobbed him to put Nürnberg 1-0 up.
 Five minutes later, a corner from Rausch, and Karim Haggui tapped in from 5 yards to level the scores.
 1-1 going into the half time break. 

In the second half, Jan Schlaudraff was playing like a man pocessed, wriggling here and there, neat turns, beating defenders. It was no surprise when he fed Konstantin Rausch in the area, the youngster taking one touch and curling a beauty beyond Schäfer in the visitors goal for his 5th of the season. Cue a mass bundle on the touchline, and Ya Konan emerging minus his shorts.

Jan Schaudraff

                      In the 78th minute it was than man Schaudraff again, who wriggled his way worm like into the box, only to be felled. Clear penalty and up stepped top scorer Didier Ya Konan to make it 3-1 to Hannover, getting booked for throwing his shirt to the crowd afterwards.
   Results elsewhere were indicating that Wolfsburg were down. This was an invite for the whole stadium to rejoice in their downfall. I don't particularly hold sway in seeing our local rivals get relegated. After all, it is a very easy away trip.

  So that was it. We clinch 4th place and the delights of the Europa league await. Eintracht Frankfurt join St. Pauli in the 2 Liga, whilst Hertha Berlin and FC Augsburg join us in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg are safe but Borussia Möchengladbach must play off against 2 liga VfL Bochum.