Two late Hamburg goals snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Stuttgart. Daniel Ginczek’s brace either side of an Ivo Illicevic goal had the away side in control, before two minutes of madness from Florian Klein gave HSV the fighting chance they needed. Pierre-Michel Lasogga and Johan Djourou turned the game around in the final six minutes.
Hamburg looked lively from the start, with Illicevic hitting the side-netting in the opening minutes. But they would once again concede first, with Emir Spahic doing little to help his chances of recruiting new fans. Moments after Christian Gentner should have put Stuttgart ahead with a free header, Daniel Ginczek opened his account for the season. A neat ball from Daniel Didavi evaded Spahic and found the Stuttgart striker who composed himself before shooting past Rene Adler.
Despite remaining the better side, Stuttgart couldn’t capitalize on its lead, as the Dinosaurs slowly resurrected themselves. Johan Djourou dinked a long ball forward that Illicevic reacted fastest too. The winger stayed strong and finished over Przemyslaw Tyton in the away goal. Martin Harnik almost had Stuttgart immediately back in the lead, though, but his near-post effort was blocked by Matthias Ostrzolek.
Stuttgart remained the better side and could not be stopped, as Ginczek put his name in the headlines. A delicately chipped ball from the outside of Gentner’s foot found the striker who beat the offside trap and then rounded Adler to secure his ninth goal in his last 11 Bundesliga games.
Didavi almost had Stuttgart’s lead doubled at the start of the second-half, but his long-ranged free-kick dragged inches wide of Adler’s left post. Minutes later, and the away side were wishing the chance had been taken. Florian Klein was booked for a tactical foul, before receiving a second booking for a challenge which itself was worthy of a red card, just 120 seconds later. Klein’s inexcusable play would prove costly, in the end.
As Hamburg looked less and less likely to grab an equalizer, substitute Pierre-Michel Lasogga gave Bruno Labbadia food for thought over his position on the bench for next week. Ivica Olic’s shot deflected off the back of Timo Baumgartl and drifted towards Lasogga. He reached the ball before Tyton, and poked it in at the near post. As the home crowed roared, their voices broke in the 89th minute, as captain Johan Djourou curled in to earn HSV the most unlikely of victories. A stadium that had been filled with frustration throughout last season was allowed to release its anger and blow away the cobwebs as Hamburg occupy a top-ten Bundesliga spot for the first time in nearly two years.
