One of the least interesting games I have watched so far. Warm up of the Hannover 96 substitues during the match break actually attracted more attention – there were seven guys and theaudience started betting which of them would come to the pitch afterwards.

OK, that was a joke, there was no bets, yet Lady Boredom was present, in the first half in particular when both teams shot on target three times – altogether. The hosts played with much hope (“will kick the ball forward, hope someone will take the pass”) whereas the guests widely applied the ice hokey’s “icing” expediting the ball as far from own penalty area as they possibly could. Regretful – given the first derby of Lower Saxony for 37 years. Everyone in the region was waiting for the event, media giving it a huge coverage and fans relentlessly raised funs for all necessary gadgets and accessories, banners and flags. The latter one – the so called sector flag; produced by H96 – was probably the largest I had ever seen. Fireworks and flares had been obviously available either – we all know the banned fruit is the sweetest.

The Eintracht fans were minority of course yet the cheering organisation deserved all possible respect – discipline, synchronisation along with the songs repertoire made a huge impression. In the late phase of the second half their favorites matched the cheering quality and locked H96 in a truly ice hockey manner. The last decisive  pass was lacking though and ultimately the yellow and blue did not reach out for the historical victory. Kibice mocno złorzeczyli na sędziego, który co prawda regularnie odgwizdywał faule na gościach i kazał wstawać z murawy symulantom z Hanoweru, ale w moim przekonaniu absolutnie nie był stronniczy. Był w sam raz – stanowczy, konkretny i cierpliwy. Obydwie żółte kartki, które pokazał, były jak najbardziej uzasadnione.

Sobiech came to the pitch for the last five minutes and I am not sure if he touched the ball. His team mate and rival, Diouf, went clearly below his normal performance level however one has to admit he is twice as fast as Sobiech so Slomka would rather count on the Senegalese.

Watching the game from behind the goal sectors reminds me a bit of a documentary – I was subconsciously waiting for a moment when the players would interrupt the match for a moment and one of them wwould approach a video camera to comment some of the latest actions.

The Eintrach fans greeted the last whistle with euphoria. No surprise – the team occupies the last table position and chances for them to retain the 1. Bundesliga existence is highly theoretical. Hence they consider each point won a trophy – the more that the hosts happened to be a clear favorite of the encounter. I was in the train with several H96 supporters featured by extremely sad looks. A woman asked one of them about the match score. Ca. 20-year old individual in white and green scarf used the one and only word as his response, fairly describing “the event of the century”: a catastrophe.