Holtby helps Hamburg head off Cologne

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Hamburg Lewis Holtby struck late to earn Hamburg a 2-1 win over Cologne and lift Markus Gisdol's men out of the bottom three at the Volksparkstadion.

Hamburger SV 2-1 FC Cologne

Goals: 1-0 Müller (13'), 1-1 Jojic (25'), 2-1 Holtby (90+2')

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In front of the watching eyes of Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, Anthony Modeste almost provided a spectacular opening with an overhead kick which missed the target, but the first goal came at the other end after excellent work by Bobby Wood saw the ball fall to the feet of Müller to slot in. Milos Jojic headed in Christian Clemens cross to bring the guests back on terms before Kyriakos Papadopoulos twice went close for Hamburg.

Wood squandered a good early chance in the second half before Hamburg's hopes suffered a setback as Müller limped off. Cologne could not capitalise on their opponents losing their hitherto most dangerous player, though. Instead it was Hamburg who celebrated late on when Holtby converted only moments after being denied a goal due to offside, and it was enough to lift the Red Shorts out of the bottom three.

Man of the match

Lewis Holtby pulled the strings for Hamburg, forming a productive attacking outlet with Müller and showing precision with set-pieces which frequently created openings. He also grabbed the winner and appears to be finding his best form lately under Markus Gisdol.

Talking point

Not only did his team miss an opportunity to move up to fifth, Anthony Modeste also lost ground in the running for the top-scorer's gong this season. He went close with an early overhead kick, but with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski both on target in their games, the Frenchman has now slipped to third in the current scoring charts.

- © gettyimages / Stuart Franklin

Line-ups

Hamburg: Adler - Diekmeier, Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Santos – Jung (46' Ekdal), Walace (70' Sakai) – Müller (54' Gregoritsch), Holtby, Kostic – Wood

Coach: Markus Gisdol

Cologne: Horn - Olkowski, Maroh (46' Heintz), Subotic, Hector (c) – Clemens (76' Guirassy), Höger, Jojic, Rausch - Zoller, Modeste

Coach: Peter Stöger

Head here for the Hamburg vs. Cologne Match Centre!