Huszti, Ya Konan keep Hannover among leaders

BERLIN (AFP) –

Hanover’s Ivorian striker Didier Ya Konan celebrates scoring during the German first division Bundesliga football match Hanover 96 vs 1.FC Nuremberg in the northern German city of Hanover. Hanover won 4-1.

Szabolcs Huszti and Didier Ya Konan kept Hanover among the leaders of the Bundesliga, scoring or assisting in all four goals in the team’s 4-1 victory over Nuremberg on Wednesday.

Hanover were playing 24 hours after four of the top five clubs were in action, including leaders Bayern Munich, who cruised past Wolfsburg 3-0 to extend their perfect run to 15 points from five matches.

Hanover improved to 10 points for third place – three points behind Eintracht Frankfurt, who drew 3-3 with Borussia Dortmund, and level on points with Schalke – 3-0 winners over Mainz.

“We all defended well together and provoked their mistakes,” said Hanover defender Steven Cherundolo, whose team have not lost at home since April 2011.

“We applied a lot of pressure and we had our chances and converted them.”

Huszti set up Lars Stindl’s goal in the 21st minute and then picked up his third goal of the season after 29 minutes with a superb shot.

Ya Konan picked up a brace in the second half, scoring in the 52nd and 64th minutes for Hanover’s final two goals with Huszti setting up the second.

With seven assists, the Hungarian has had a hand in 10 of Hanover’s last 12 goals this season.

Timothy Chandler scored a consolation goal in the 73rd minute for Nuremberg.

Werder Bremen continued their dominance over Freiburg, extending their undefeated streak in southwest Germany with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory for seven points.

Bremen, who have not lost in Freiburg since July 2001, got goals from Joseph Akpala in the 48th minute and Aaron Hunt after 59 minutes after Freiburg (five points) jumped ahead on Jonathan Schmid’s goal in the 36th minute.

Bayer Leverkusen kept pace with Bremen with a 3-1 victory at Augsburg.

Stefan Kiessling opened the scoring after seven minutes before Philipp Wollscheid made it 2-0 after 39 minutes and the gap was three goals on Andre Schurrle’s score in the 44th minute.

Augsburg remained plum last in the table with one point but at least scored their first goal at home this season by Tobias Werner in the 51st minute.

Hoffenheim picked up their second straight victory to jump to six points, blasting past Stuttgart 3-0 on goals by Takashi Usami in the fifth minute, Joselu in the 47th and Fabian Johnson after 58 minutes.

Stuttgart remain one off the bottom with two points.

Alvaro Dominguez headed in a free kick a minute into injury time to give 10-man Borussia Monchengladbach a 2-2 draw at home with Hamburg to move to six points.

Rafael van der Vaart unleashed a hammer blast from the left side to open the scoring after 23 minutes. Martin Stranzl equalised in the 39th minute before Artjoms Rudnevs gave Hamburg the lead again in the 45th minute.

Stranzl was shown the red card in the 53rd minute for his professional tackle on Ivo Ilicevic before van der Vaart’s penalty attempt in the 55th minute struck the left post before Dominguez’s heroics.

“That was a totally crazy game. After going down 2-1 and having only 10 men, at least we got one point. But we still have a lot of work to do,” said Gladbach coach Lucien Favre.

Hamburg have four points.

“We should have won. If I convert that penalty, the game is over. But this happens in football,” said van der Vaart.