Mame Diouf (2nd l.) scored his third goal of the season in Hannover's 2-0 against Augsburg
Mame Diouf (2nd l.) scored his third goal of the season in Hannover's 2-0 against Augsburg

Hannover down Augsburg

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Hanover - Mame Diouf and Lars Stindl both scored one and created another as Hannover 96 eased to an unchallenged 2-0 victory over FC Augsburg on Matchday 10.

Scrappy affair

Mirko Slomka’s Hannover had been taken to in midweek, but they were by far the more energetic side in the early stages here. Just four minutes in, a flowing move involving Didier Ya Konan and Manuel Schmiedebach almost released the recalled Szabolcs Huszti, but the pass was behind him and a dangerous opportunity was wasted.

A Reds’ goal did not take long to arrive, however. Augsburg’s defence had looked shaky all afternoon and they were finally punished on 26 minutes when Marcel de Jong’s misjudgment allowed Mame Diouf to fire home from Lars Stindl’s excellent cross.

Augsburg were unbeaten in their previous two away matches, both 0-0 draws. Once behind against Hannover, however, they looked distinctly short on ideas to get themselves back into the game. Knowledge Musona and Tobias Werner were full of running on the wings, but the service to striker Torsten Oehrl was almost non-existent.

To be fair to both sides, the pitch, cutting up with every passing minute, did not lend itself to any sort of free-flowing football, and a scrappy affair was settled late on as Diouf turned provider for Stindl, allowing the midfielder to curl in a second and kill the Augsburg challenge for good.

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