Valentin Stocker's 84th-minute stunner proved enough for Hertha Berlin to earn a 1-1 draw at Hannover tonight.
Hannover dominated the first half by way of chances, With Salif Sane and Jimmy Briand both spurning clear-cut opportunities to open the scoring.
The hosts, winless in 12 games now, had looked on ending that drought when Christian Schulz turned home a scrappy goal on 75 minutes, but Stocker volleyed home 10 minutes later to earn a draw.
Below, relive the action with Sports Mole's live commentary.
Good evening my friends and welcome to our live text commentary of Hertha Berlin's visit to Hannover at Niedersachsenstadion - a stadium that I can definitely pronounce in real life. I'm Shane, but you can call me Shäne and I'll be bringing you minute-by-minute updates of everything that happens inside Niedersachsenstadion - a stadium that I can definitely pronounce in real life.
It's 11th meets 15th in the Bundesliga as both sides look to bolster their survival chances with a win here tonight. We'll have a closer look at the implications of defeat a little later, but first let's look at some team news, will we? Fair enough. Stay tuned.
HANNOVER XI: Zieler; Albornoz, Sakai, Sane, Stindl, Schulz, Briand, Marcelo, Ya Konan, Kiyotake, Trevizan
HERTHA XI: Kraft; Pekarik, Kalou, Skjelbred, Langkamp, Stocker, Beerens, Schulz, Lustenberger, Brooks, Haraguchi
HANNOVER SUBS: Almer, Prib, Andreasen, Joselu, Bittencourt, Stankevicius, Schlaudruff
HERTHA SUBS: Burchert, Heitinga, Ndjeng, Hegeler, Niemeyer, Wagner, Van Den Bergh
I suppose we'll be polite and start with the visitors then? Alright, and Pal Dardai makes one change from his side's 2-0 win over Paderborn last Sunday afternoon, with Marvin Plattenhardt dropping out for Nico Schulz.
On to Hannover now and Tayfun Korkut also makes just the one change from last week's 2-2 draw at Frankfurt, with Miiko Albornoz coming in for Edgar Prib and that's your lot.
Salomon Kalou did not want to be here tonight. He had planned on defecating on the Great Wall of China, before flying to France and urinating against the Eiffel Tower in a world tour of vandalising precious landmarks, having reportedly chiseled off a piece of Germany's iconic Berlin Wall last month. Let's hope he makes headlines for the right reasons and leaves his mark on this game, eh?
Former Chelsea man Kalou is actually Hertha's leading goalscorer in the team tonight, with seven-goal Julien Scheiber unavailable. With six goals from 14 games, the Ivory Coast international is his side's go-to-guy this evening.
And who can the hosts look to for a bit of inspiration? Leading goalscorer, with eight goals, Joselu can only make the bench, meaning that midfielder Lars Stindl, with six goals, is their danger man tonight.
It'll be a case of who wants it more tonight. Hannover have the chance to move six points clear of the drop zone with a win, while Hertha could effectively preserve their top-flight status by beating Hannover to move 10 points clear of danger!
That being said, Hannover haven't even won in 2015 yet! It's been 11 games since they've managed a victory in a run of form that includes six defeats and five draw. They make my astro team look like Brazil of 1970. Are they due a win, or is it an invitation for Hertha to move 10 points clear of danger? Time will tell. Two minutes to kickoff.
KICKOFF: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at Niedersachsenstadion, my friends. Really big game this. Let's see what transpires.
Decent enough start by the hosts as Jimmy Briand looks to play in Hiroshi Kiyotake, but the Frenchman's through ball is eventually gobbled up by Thomas Kraft. You could see what he was trying to do.
Kiyotake is somebody who Hertha have to keep an eye on tonight because he can be absolutely lethal. He has just whipped in a fantastic cross from a free kick but John Anthony Brooks heads away. Brooks must be in witness protection with a name like that, is he? If I had a choose a fake name it'd be that. Hmm.
Really not sure if Hertha Berlin have been out of their own half yet as Hannover dominate the first 10 minutes or so. Kiyotake has looked very lively so far, but it's still 0-0.
CHANCE! This goes down as a chance, and Kiyotake is the source once more as the Japanese schemer whips a fine ball into the box from a corner, but Marcelo and Sane get in each other's way and the latter ends up heading over the bar. It was certainly a chance.
13 mins in and I'm not joking when I say that Hertha haven't strung together more than two passes in Hannover's half as of yet. The hosts are really pressing their Berlin counterparts and forcing them to move backwards. They can't keep this up for 90 minutes but, so far, it's proven effective. Very much like my cat, Hertha are chasing shadows for the most part.
DISALLOWED GOAL! That would've been a little harsh on Hannover, as Hertha score but it's disallowed. It's a superb save from Ron-Robert Zieler to keep out Sebastian Langkamp's close-range header, before John Anthony Brooks, our favourite mobster turned snitch, turns the ball home but it's offside.
Here's a stat that may worry Hannover, because Hertha have the best conversion rate of clear-cut chances in the division - 64%. That'll be in Hannover's mind, if they know weird stats like that, which they probably don't actually.
Hertha coming into this one far more in recent minutes after really struggling to string passes together in the first quarter. We've barely seen Kalou, however, whose mind is probably preoccupied with vandalising a few local monuments before he goes back to Berlin.
The pendulum swings back in Hannover's favour now as Tayfun Korkut's side enjoy plenty of possession once more, but they're really struggling when it comes to the final third.
SHOT! We've seen our first real attempt of the game, and it's Hertha as Genki Haraguchi looks to squeeze a right-footed volley in at the near post, but Zieler dives about 10 seconds before the shot is even taken and pushes it out away to safety. That was an exaggeration, but he still dived too early.
I don't want to keep harping on about Kiyotake, but he really has been quite dangerous for Hannover so far and, if they do win and end an 11-game winless streak, then he'll certainly have a part to play.
CHANCE! Guess who the architect was? Uh huh, it was Kiyotake, who swings in a beautiful free kick, but Sane, with a free header, can only direct his tame effort into the body of Thomas Kraft. Really poor finish.
CHANCE! Okay it's really quite important that Hannover take one of these chances, as Jimmy Briand curls Kiyotake's cut-back pass over from close range. Arguably best chance of the game, and to miss the target completely is inexplicable.
CHANCE! First real chance for Hertha now as Haragouchi makes a mug of Kiyotake with some clever play, before his cut back is met by Valentin Stocker, who fires a left-footed volley narrowly over the crossbar. More like Valentin Shocker.
Pal Dardai's side are finishing this half pretty well as Kalou springs to life and fires well over from outside the box. Decent skill to work the opening, but the execution wasn't exactly clinical. Five minutes left in the half.
PENALTY APPEAL: Ah now here, go home ref you're drunk. Stocker runs on to Beerens's clever disguised ball before going to ground in the box after Schulz had a big clump of Stocker's shirt. It's a penalty, but not according to the ref, who tells him to get up! The cheek.
HALF TIME: HANNOVER 0-0 HERTHA
A fairly entertaining half comes to an end as both sides cancel each other out and go into the break 0-0.
RESTART! Apologies I did intend on doing a quick recap at the break, but I'm having laptop difficulties unfortunately. I'm back now, and so are the players as Hertha kick us off once again. Big 45 minutes ahead.
OFF THE POST! So unlucky for Hannover as Lars Stindl, who has six goals this season, takes aim from outside the box but watches his low drive bounce off the post. Is it going to be one of those games for them?
BOOKING: We've seen our first yellow card of the night as Christian Schulz goes into the book for a cynical foul. Hertha will whip this into the box now....
But, eh, it comes to nothing as Roy Beerens's shocking delivery sails over the head of everybody and drops out for a goal kick.
Really good defending from Nico Schulz as he gets back in the nick of time to prevent Sakai from reaching Briand's incisive through ball. Very decent.
DOUBLE SUB: Double Hannover substitution now as Leonardo Bittencourt and Edgar Prib replace Jimmy Briand and Miiko Albornoz.
Salomon Kalou is face down in the box inside Hannover's penalty area as medics treat him after being clattered by Felipe I think. They have a right to feel aggrieved over the lack of penalty there in truth.
Perfectly weighted cross in by Albornoz but it's just over the head of Sane as Hertha clear. If somebody does win this then it looks like it'll be Hannover, but there's still over 25 minutes left so Hertha might nick it yet.
SUB: Pal Dardai makes his first change now as Hertha place Roy Beerens with Jens Hegeler. Not gonna lie, it's unlikely to change that much because, well, Berlin just can't get the ball at the moment and you can't score without possession.
This game is running really, really low on quality at the minute unfortunately. I haven't seen the in-play odds, but I'd be surprised if a 0-0 draw wasn't about 1/4 because, as I said, there's nothing happening for either team in the right areas.
There's advertisements around the stadium for Wodka Gorbatschow. The company should give everybody inside the ground a few shots to make this game a little more tolerable because, as I said, it's not been great.
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! Hannover 1-0 Hertha Berlin (Christian Schulz)
Cancel the vodka. This one has just come to life - finally! It was only going to be a matter of time before Hannover scored from a corner by virtue of Kiyotake's delivery, as Sane's header is well saved by Kraft, who saves again from Joselu, but Schulz is on hand to turn the ball home in scrappy fashion to score what could prove a massive goal in their season! Game on.
PENALTY APPEAL: Looks like the ref has said a few shots of this Wodka prior to kickoff because he's denied Hertha two really strong penalty appeals already - and we've just seen a third as Felipe literally pushes Haraguchi to ground but the ref is having none of it. You can tell this ref probably laughed when Lieutenant Dan fell out of his wheelchair in Forrest Gump because it's very, very hard to get his sympathy.
We're into the final 10 minutes now and Hannover lead thanks to Christian Schulz's opener a few minutes ago. If it stays like this then Tayfun Korkut's side are going six points clear of danger, after playing a game more than their relegation rivals.
GOAL!!!!!!! Hannover 1-1 Hertha Berlin (Valentin Stocker)
We spoke too soon, my friends. Valentin Stocker, who we renamed Valentin Shocker earlier in the commentary, makes us feel a little silly after netting a fine goal to get Hertha back on level terms. The Swiss schemer is lurking on the edge of the box and executes a fantastic acrobatic volley to beat Zieler. It's a goal good enough to earn a draw. Fantastic stuff.
We're heading into the final two minutes of normal time and will see yet another twist? Maybe we will. Stay tuned.
THREE MINUTES ADDED ON:
Hertha appear to be finishing the game the stronger of both sides as Hannover probably feel a little depressed - and rightly so. Last minute.
FULL TIME: HANNOVER 1-1 HERTHA BERLIN
Well, that's all she wrote ladies and gents. It was a decent first half, but the game really only came to life on 75 minutes when Schulz opened the scoring for the hosts. It wasn't enough to end Hanover's 11-game winless streak, though, as Stocker fired a fine equaliser past Zieler on 84 minutes to earn the draw.
Well, that's all we've got time for, my friends. Thanks for joining our live text commentary and we'll see you next time. Enjoy your weekend.
