Köln victory adds to Hamburg's relegation woes
Hamburg - A Marcel Risse brace earned 1. FC Köln a 2-0 victory over a toothless Hamburg side at the Imtech Arena.
Risse at the double
The hosts had the better of the chances in a goalless first half, but fell behind after 62 minutes when Risse found the far corner with a low finish. The 25-year-old then scored a virtual carbon copy of his first goal in the 78th minute to seal the Billy Goats’ fifth away league win of the season.
Josef Zinnbauer’s side had scored only nine goals in their first seventeen league matches, but went close to taking the lead inside ten minutes when Timo Horn produced an outstanding save to palm Heiko Westermann’s header to safety. Ivica Olic, who completed his move to HSV from Wolfsburg on Friday afternoon, then guided a looping half-volley over the crossbar, before Jaroslav Drobny thwarted Köln marksman Anthony Ujah at the other end to send the teams in level at the break.
Drobny had to be at his best to deny Slawomir Peszko eight minutes into the second half, pulling off a smart save at the feet of the Polish midfielder as Köln started to up the tempo. Peter Stöger’s side took a deserved lead just after the hour mark when Risse broke free on the right-hand side before firing a low shot past Drobny from a tight angle. Risse repeated the trick with twelve minutes remaining, finding the net from a similar position to seal a priceless win for Köln and leave HSV with plenty to ponder ahead of the rest of the Rückrunde.
Line-ups and statistics
