HANNOVER EDGE MAINZ

Sportinglife - Hannover recorded their first home victory for over eight months after securing a battling win over Mainz.

Vahid Hashemian's late strike grabbed all three points for the 96ers in an entertaining encounter at the AWD-Arena.

Hannover have now moved into 12th place in the Bundesliga, while Mainz remain bottom of the table, four points adrift of safety.

The home side started brightest and Arnold Bruggink's effort from the edge of the penalty area forced an early save from Mainz goalkeeper Dimo Wache.

Hannover continued to push forward in search of an opening goal and Hashemian's long-distance strike then forced another stop from Wache.

And in the 24th minute Jiri Stajner missed a golden opportunity to put Hannover ahead when he fired wide from inside the penalty area.

Both sides then failed to create any more clear-cut goalscoring chances in a scrappy and nervy passage of play.

But two minutes after the interval Wache produced another excellent save to tip Bruggink's header over the crossbar.

And another Bruggink header then failed to hit the target from Michael Tarnat's dangerous cross as the home side continued to dominate the proceedings.

Mainz, who are still searching for an away victory this campaign, created their first opportunity of the game in the 54th minute when Manuel Friedrich fired wide from the edge of box.

But Hannover finally took a deserved lead in the 75th minute when Tarnat's cross was powerfully headed home by Hashemian from the centre of the penalty area.

Both sides then failed to fashion any more chances in the dying stages as Hannover held out for the win.