Mladen Petric’s second-half goal on Friday gave Hamburg SV a 1-0 win over visiting Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
Petric slid in to meet a low in-swinging cross from Aenis Ben-Hatira in the 65th minute for his fifth goal of the season.
Hamburg have 30 points and move up to sixth pending yesterday’s result between Freiburg and Nuremburg. Frankfurt remain eighth, but could be overtaken by Hoffenheim today.
Photo: EPA
Martin Fenin had a chance to give Frankfurt an early lead when he eluded defender Guy Demel, but his weak shot was easily gathered by goalkeeper Frank Rost.
Frankfurt were content to play on the counterattack, but Fanis Gekas was unable to take any of his chances. The Greek striker’s control let him down on a number of occasions.
Hamburg wasted an opportunity to go in front at the end of the first half, Ben-Hatira attempting a difficult header as Ruud van Nistelrooy waited in a much better position. The forward then made his frustration known.
Once play resumed in the second half, Hamburg winger Elijero Elia’s powerful effort — after he had been put through by Piotr Trochowski — was deflected wide by goalkeeper Oka Nikolov.
Hamburg kept pushing forward and Petric finally opened the scoring with 25 minutes remaining.
He had a wonderful chance to add to his tally late in the game when he was played through by Dennis Aogo, but the Croat dragged his shot wide.
Petric had a last-minute penalty appeal turned down in what may have been van Nistelrooy’s last game for the club. Spanish media are reporting that he is on the verge of rejoining former club Real Madrid.
Hamburg director of sport Bastian Reinhardt denied the 34-year-old striker was leaving the club.
“Spanish newspapers write what they want,” he said after the game. “Our position has not changed.”
Frankfurt chief executive Heribert Bruchhagen blamed injuries for his side’s second defeat in a row.
“We could have equalized at the end, but there were too many mistakes,” he said. “We weren’t precise enough.”
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