Borussia Dortmund 1 - 0 Hannover 96: Henrikh Mkhitaryan earns Borussia Dortmund win

Posted Sunday, February 14, 2016 by PA

Borussia Dortmund reduced the deficit on Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga to five points, although they were made to work hard for a 1-0 win over bottom team Hannover.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored the only goal of the game for the Westphalians, who created numerous chances but had to wait until the 57th minute to break the deadlock.

The win puts pressure on Bayern, who can restore their eight-point lead at Augsburg on Sunday.

Without the league's top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was forced out through injury, Marco Reus was moved into the most advanced position in the Dortmund team.

It was he who forced Ron-Robert Zieler into making a reflex save before he smashed a free-kick against the crossbar in a bright opening for Dortmund.

Andre Hoffmann nearly stunned the Westfalenstadion with Hannover's first attempt on goal, which Roman Burki somehow managed to scramble away for a corner.

That was as close as Hannover came to beating Burki as the home team continued to do all of the attacking.

They finally broke the deadlock in the 57th minute on a counter-attack, with Mkhitaryan leading the ball forward and picking his spot in the corner of Zieler's goal from just outside the penalty area.

It was enough to send Hannover spiralling to a seventh straight defeat, and their fourth since Thomas Schaaf took charge.