Hannover gain vital points at Frankfurt in Bundesliga

Hannover scored three goals within half an hour to edge Frankfurt 3-2 at the curtain raiser of the 31st round in Bundesliga.

Frankfurt Thursday reduced the arrears twice but it wasn't enough as Hannover reaped three points on the road to ease their relegation worries, reported Xinhua.

The visitors secured a perfect start on the road as Leon Andreasen opened the scoring from 11 meters following Christian Pander's cross into the box with two minutes into the game.

The "Eagles" remained unfazed and responded 11 minutes later when Tranquillo Barnetta's cross found Martin Lanig, who tapped in from very close range to restore parity at the 13th minute.

Both sides created opportunities in an offensively minded encounter but it was again Hannover that grabbed the 2-1 lead seven minutes later.

Christian Pander was in the thick of things when he crossed a free kick into the path of Lars Stindl whose header overcame Frankfurt's goalkeeper Kevin Trapp into the top left corner.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts as Hannover extended their lead to 3-1 when Didier Ya Konan capitalized on an Andreasen's through ball to slot home into the bottom right at the 29th minute.

After the restart, Hannover continued to work out chances but they lacked in accuracy since Andreasen only rattled the left post three minutes into the second half before Szabolcs Huszti hit the bar at the 52nd minute.

However, Hannover's Manuel Schmiedebach had the best chance to kill the game with his header but Frankfurt's defender Alexander Madlung cleared the ball from the goalline at the 64th minute.

The following fixtures are scheduled for Saturday: newly crowned champions Bayern Munich see bottom side Braunschweig, second placed Dortmund host Mainz, relegation threatened Freiburg meet Monchengladbach, Augsburg encounter struggling Berlin and relegation threatened Hamburg clash Wolfsburg.