Hertha Berlin 3-0 Hamburg SV: Brilliant Berlin Sweep Aside Hamburg

Hamburg missed plenty of opportunities to get on the score board this evening, but none of them were converted as they drop three more points.

Despite having a majority of the possession on the evening, Hamburg were defeated by three goals to the home side, Hertha Berlin as they won 3-0 at the Olympiastadion in the capital city on Saturday. Hamburg will be kicking themselves for not finishing their chances as they did have 15 shots, with 6 of  them on target, but wre unable to convert a single one. However, on the other hand, Anis Ben-Hatira scored a brace in the second half which made all the difference in the world.
Rafael van der Vaart had an audacious attempt on goal in the very first minute of the match as he sent a ball into the box from forty yards out, but it was grabbed easily by Thomas Kraft. Things settled down after that point, but no team was able to get a good attack going with both sides playing very physical and the ref, blowing his whistle often, which stopped the flow of the game. Hertha had their first attempt in the 10th minute through Ben-Hatira as Salomon Kalou found him at the top left of the box, but his effort was stopped well by Jaroslav Drobny.
FIve minutes later, Hamburg had their best chance of the half as Pierre-Michel Lasogga's header from the middle of the box missed wide and to the right. The first 45 minutes ended scoreless, but both clubs should have been on the board going into the halftime interval. Lasogga had an attempt on goal right after the restart but his right footed effort missed well to the left of Kraft's goal as things picked up as they left off. Berlin's first attempt on goal of the second half came just a couple of minutes before the hour mark as the halftime substitute Marcel Ndjeng hits the bar from outside of the box.
Valentin Stocker and company hit Hamburg on the break as he found Ben-Hatira finished off the well-worked counter with a blast into the top right corner of the goal to send the home side in front, right on the hour mark. The next Hertha goal came a mere five minutes later off of a set-piece as John Heitinga tapped in a ball from close range to double Berlin's lead and send their supporters into complete euphoria. Twenty minutes later, Ben-Hatira, who had been superb tonight, rounded off his performance with a goal, this time off of his left foot, that rolled into the bottom right corner to seal the three points for his club.