Tricky first half
The 7,000 fans present saw a disjointed first half at the Kurt-Wabbel Stadium, with plenty of stoppages and niggly fouls. Halle certainly weren't afraid of their opponents, and did a good job of stifling the Reds creativity in midfield. The first chance did fall to Jan Schlaudraff though, after a lovely ball from Mike Hanke, but the new striker saw his effort punched away. Six minutes later Kamalla undid all of Halle's hard-work after he was robbed at the back by Schlaudraff, and this time the former Bayern Munich man made no mistake to put the visitors 1-0 up.

Halle were unfazed by going a goal down, and continued to make life hard for Hannover. The East German side started to increase the pressure on their guests, with Kanitz and Kugel both testing Robert Enke. It was certainly the home side who finished the half strongest, although Mike Hanke had a golden opportunity on the break to double 96's lead, which he spurned.
So the Reds went into the break 1-0 up, but increasingly wary of their lower league opposition. Clearly what Dieter Hecking said at half-time worked though, as it was the Reds who came out of the dressing room all guns blazing. On 47 minutes Balitsch exchanged a one-two with Hanke which put him through on goal, and the midfielder made no mistake to double the lead. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of Halle, and now Hannover began to show the difference in class, with Schlaudraff going close again ten minutes later.

Huszti und Schlaudraff celebrate the opener

Brace for Bruggink

In the 68th minute it was Arnold Bruggink who made Hannover's pressure told. A Schlaudraff cross from the right hand side was flicked on by Hanke, and Bruggink was able find the net via a slight deflection from just inside the area. Six minutes later Mike Hanke himself got on the scoresheet, rising to meet a pinpoint Cherundolo cross to nod home. The game then had to be stopped for ten minutes after trouble in the stands, but that was soon quelled, and it failed to knock 96 out of their stride. The Reds continued to put pressure on, and in the 85th minute Bruggink grabbed his sedcond and Hannover's fifth goal of the game after good work from second half substitute Forssell to make it 5-0, and see Hannover 96 into the 2nd round.

Goals: 0-1 Schlaudraff (9'), 0-2 Balitsch (47'), 0-3 Bruggink (69'), 0-4 Hanke (76'), 0-5 Bruggink (85')

Hallescher FC: Horvat - Benes, Lachheb, Kamalla, Schubert - M. Kunze (72' Ro. Stark), Görke (72' Kittler), Finke, Kanitz - Hebestreit (63' David), Neubert

Hannover 96: Enke - Cherundolo, Ismael, Vinicius, C. Schulz - Lala, Balitsch, Huszti (71' Rosenthal), Bruggink - Hanke, Schlaudraff (71' Forssell)

Attendance: 7,000

Photos: S.Zwing

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