Hertha BSC lost against Hamburger SV

After losing 0-2 in Nürnberg last time out, Hertha lost again on matchday 19. This time they went down 1-2 to HSV, in front of 49,168 at the Olympic stadium in Berlin. It was the second straight defeat for new coach Michael Skibbe. While HSV are on 22 points in 12th spot in the Bundesliga table, the capital city side are now in 14th place, just two points and places above the drop zone.Hertha coach Michael Skibbe made two changes to his side which lost in Nürnberg last weekend

Fabian Lustenberger got a rare start at the expense of Peter Niemeyer, while Tunay Torun replaced Ronny – skipper Andre Mijatovic was on the Hertha bench at first. After being hammered 5-1 at home to champions Borussia Dortmund last time out, HSV supremo Thorsten Fink opted to make three changes to that line-up: In came Mladen Petric, David Jarolim and Jacopo Sala. Out went Tesche, Lam and former Hertha midfielder Kacar.Hubnik ruled offsideBoth teams looked for the shortest possible route to the opposing goal from the opening whistle, but it was the visitors who had the opening chances. Petric nodded narrowly wide following a corner (5.). At the other end, Dutchman Jeffrey Bruma cleared a dangerous free kick by Ebert in the nick of time. Roman Hubnik found himself on his own with former Hertha keeper Jaroslav Drobny from the resulting corner. The Czech-born stopper had the last laugh though, as his compatriot was ruled to be offside (10.).Hertha counted their lucky stars seven minutes later, as Petric failed to connect properly with a pinpoint ball from Marcell Jansen.

After a strong challenge by Drobny, Christoph Janker was forced off and was replaced by skipper Mijatovic (22.). The Berlin defence looked less solid from that moment on and on 24 minutes Dennis Diekmeier breezed past Levan Kobiashvili, before cutting in from the right wing from where he fed Jansen, who nailed the ball under the Hertha crossbar to fire Hamburg ahead.Hamburg double their leadHertha almost struck back right away, but a ball into the area by Lell was deflected into the side netting (26.). Petric then nicely set up team mate Sala, but the latter pulled his rushed effort well wide of target (34.). Drobny then needed two chances to deal with an effort from former HSV player Tunay Torun (37.). As match referee put the whistle to his mouth to blow time on the opening half, Hertha held a collective snooze and Petric nodded home another fine cross from the right by Diekmeier (45.), to sent the visitors into the break with a two-goal lead.Hertha looked pumped as they emerged for the second half, but once again it was the visiting side who threatened first, as Paolo Guererro got a shot away from the edge of the area, (49.) and then missed a clear header (53.). Both efforts were easily dealt with by home keeper Thomas Kraft. Hertha young gun Lasogga then began a promising move. The Berlin goal-getter tanked his way down the right before crossing to Ramos lurking inside the HSV box. The Columbian laid the ball off but Lustenberger missed connecting with the ball by a whisker (58.). Niemeyer’s header then flew wide of the far post following a corner (66.).Lasogga strike too little too lateHertha tried to put HSV under pressure but their passing let them down, or they were unlucky, like the time when Ramos almost scored from an acute angle, only to see his effort deflected out of danger (72.). At the other end it took a timely Hubnik challenge to deny Guerrero what looked like a certain goal (73.). The home side managed to pull a goal back nine minutes from full time, as Lasogga nodded home a cross by Kobiashvili at the near post.Just three minutes later Lasogga threatened again. This time he found himself one on one with Drobny after a swift counter attack involving Ronny and Ramos. Lasogga drew the short straw again, as Drobny kept his cool to deny his former team mate (84.). Hertha threw everything forward, but HSV cleverly played out the remaining minutes to deliver Hertha a nasty blow on their conquest of collecting 40 points to avoid the drop.Matchday 20 sees the capital city side at home again. This time the visitors to the Olympic stadium will be Niedersachsen side Hannover 96 on Saturday (04.02.12, 15.30 CET). Skibbe will be missing two key players for that game: Christian Lell and Andre Mijatovic both picked up fifth bookings against HSV, which means that they are suspended for the visit of Hannover.

Referee: Guido Winkmann