A patient VfL Wolfsburg side came away with a rather fortunate 1-0 victory at the AWD Arena after Hannover 96 had dictated much of the game, only to concede late on and succumb to their ninth defeat in a row.

Following last week's 4-1 defeat in Dortmund, 96 coach Mirko Slomka made several changes, bringing in Sergio Pinto, Karim Haggui, Manuel Schmiedebach, Constant Djakpa and Jiri Stajner for Sofian Chahed, Mario Eggimann, Hanno Balitsch, Konstantin Rausch and Jan Schlaudraff.

The Reds performed with gusto from the off, working their way into the final third with some excellent passing moves against a calm Wolfsburg defence which was pinned back deep in their own half throughout the opening exchanges.

Thus it was Hannover who created the first real chance of the match when Arouna Kone laid off for Elson, the Brazilian midfielder letting fly from 25 yards only to see his powerful effort diverted around the post by Marwin Hitz. Shortly afterwards and the VfB Stuttgart loanee went close again, this time firing just wide of the left-hand upright after receiving the ball from Stajner.

Another defeat against Wolfsburg. 

Wolfsburg waited patiently for a chance of their own but struggled to overcome a stout Hannover defence. A long range strike from Christian Gentner which was superbly tipped wide by Florian Fromlowitz was the closest the Wolves came in the opening half hour.

Indeed, the only time the 96ers looked remotely shaky was from set pieces, Misimovic's deep cross being headed onto the post by Alexander Madlung after Fromlowitz failed to collect on 38 minutes.

Still, it was the hosts who remained the more active side after the break, limiting Wolfsburg to counter attacks. Though they struggled to penetrate the away side's penalty area, Slomka's home side remained a threat from distance, Djakpa firing narrowly over with a superb left-foot strike on 53 minutes.

Grafite and Dzeko never really threatened.

Aside from a Grafite strike chalked off for offside on 56 minutes, Wolfsburg only began to get into the game after the hour mark and typically for Hannover 96 of late, punished the home side for their lack of precision in front of goal when Misimovic netted from a Grafite flick-on on 78 minutes.

Broken by the opening goal, Hannover did their best to throw everything forward in search of an equaliser and should have levelled the scores when Bruggink was sent through on goal in the final three minutes, only to see his low finish blocked by Hitz.

Another unfortunate defeat for Hannover means they remain in the bottom two, missing the chance to overtake Nürnberg in 16th, and now turn their attentions to preventing a tenth loss on the bounce against SC Freiburg next weekend.

Hannover: Fromlowitz - Schmiedebach, Haggui, Durica, C. Schulz - Lala - Pinto (Bruggink 81'), Djakpa - Elson - Stajner (Hanke 67'), A. Koné

Wolfsburg: Hitz - Pekarik, Madlung, Barzagli, M. Schäfer - Josué - Riether (Hasebe 86'), Gentner (Dejagah 72') - Misimovic - Grafite, Dzeko

Goals: 0-1 Misimovic (79')

Attendance: 34,000 (AWD Arena)

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