Zlatko Junuzovic was Werder Bremen's hero with his goal deciding the northern Germany derby with Hamburg in the home side's favour
Zlatko Junuzovic was Werder Bremen's hero with his goal deciding the northern Germany derby with Hamburg in the home side's favour

Bremen's northern pride; Braunschweig & Augsburg held

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Munich - SV Werder Bremen took the honours in the 100th northern Germany derby against Hamburger SV while the spoils were shared in both Braunschweig and Augsburg.

SV Werder Bremen 1-0 Hamburger SV

bundesliga.com rounds up Saturday's action...

SV Werder Bremen took the honours in the 100th northern Germany derby at the Weser Stadion, with Zlatko Junuzovic's first-half goal enough to decide a pulsating game.

Bremen's call for a vociferous, partisan support was answered with the Weser Stadion becoming the hostile home they had hoped for and Hamburg running scared from the get-go. It may have taken Bremen nearly 20 minutes to open the scoring, but it could not be said it was not in the air as Junuzovic slotted the ball underneath Rene Adler from close range.

Tale of two halves


A diligent Ludovic Obraniak was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Hamburg defence with his incursions down the left wing, but Hamburg almost levelled out of nothing just before the interval when Hakan Calhanoglu's shot was tipped onto the crossbar by Raphael Wolf. That effort seemed to give Hamburg a lift, while it would be interesting to know what Slomka said during the interval as the Red Shorts emerged completely transformed.

Rafael van der Vaart was on the pitch, but the change went deeper than that. It was Bremen's turn to defend as they weathered a storm of advancing Hamburg shirts with the derby living up to it's billing. It was end-to-end stuff, nailbiting for the fans of both sides as Hamburg's followers urged their team forwards while Bremen's invoked a response culminating with Obraniak's shot tipped over and Petr Jiracek clearing Santiago Garcia's effort off the line as Werder moved six points clear of the drop zone.

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Eintracht Braunschweig 1-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach


Both goalkeepers got on the scoresheet, both at the wrong end, as Eintracht Braunschweig and Borussia Mönchengladbach drew 1-1 at the Eintracht Stadion.

Gladbach took the lead from a Raffael corner which was not attacked at the near post and instead struck Daniel Davari on his thigh, ending up in the back of his own goal. It was the likeliest way for the Foals to take the lead too as they were otherwise struggling to get within sight of the Braunschweig goal.

Ter Stegen's blushes


The hosts weren't testing Marc-Andre ter Stegen either, although the German goalkeeper reacted well to save a Jan Hochscheidt's effort before a moment he will have nightmares about. As he appeared to want to shift a seemingly harmless backpass from Filip Daems onto his right foot, he contrived only to help the ball on into the back of the Foals' net.

It was a gift for Braunschweig and summed up the second half of the season for Gladbach so far. Lucien Favre's men tried to cover for ter Stegen's blushes by taking the game to Braunschweig, but despite their gallant efforts, they could no longer find a way through the Braunschweig defence, Max Kruse going the closest when he hit the post.

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FC Augsburg 1-1 Hannover 96


Ragnar Klavan earned FC Augsburg a point at home to Hannover 96, who were glad to bring an end to a three-game losing streak thanks to Mame Diouf's goal in a 1-1 draw.

Fresh from his first call-up to the Germany national team, Andre Hahn had a particular spring in his step and, just two minutes in, forced Ron-Robert Zieler to tip his shot over. The Augsburg midfielder had the next attempt too, heading just over the crossbar during a bright start for the Bavarians.

Augsburg rewarded


They were only lacking in the goalscoring department, and that proved costly as Hannover took the lead with their first chance. Diouf received the ball somewhat fortuitously on the edge of the six-yard box, and his shot on the turn somehow managed to find its way into the bottom right-hand corner.

Augsburg tried to make amends, but Hahn again missed before Halil Altintop wasted the best chance, finding only the side-netting in what was becoming an increasingly open encounter. They got the equaliser they were looking for early in the second half when Klavan rose high to head Tobias Werner's corner into the far corner of Zieler's goal and earn Augsburg a point.

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