Wolfsburg hang on for point

Wolfsburg were fortunate to escape with a 1-1 draw having been outplayed by northern German rivals Hamburg.

Wolfsburg were fortunate to escape with a point having been outplayed by northern German rivals Hamburg in Friday night's Bundesliga clash. Hakan Calhanoglu gave Hamburg the lead in the 20th minute before Ricardo Rodriguez equalised from the spot in the 31st minute for the hosts. Hamburg should have snatched the points in the closing stages but were somehow held at bay, Ivo Ilicevic shooting against the woodwork in the 86th minute as their best chance went begging. Wolfsburg extended their undefeated streak to seven matches and jumped to 23 points while Hamburg, who have collected just one victory in the last four matches, improved to 16 points. Hamburg went ahead when Calhanoglu's free-kick from the left went off the underside of the crossbar and off the head of Wolfsburg keeper Diego Benaglio to find the net. The visitors missed a chance to double the lead three minutes later as Ivica Olic shot wide. Pierre-Michel Lasogga did likewise at the half-hour mark, shooting wide of the right post after a fine pass from Tolgay Arslan. At the other end, Hamburg defender Heiko Westermann brought down Daniel Caligiuri and Rodriguez hit his left-foot spot-kick into the bottom left corner to make it 1-1 in the 31st minute. Both teams cancelled each other out for much of the game but Hamburg took control in the final quarter-hour and bombarded the Wolfsburg defence with chances. Lasogga twice could not beat Benaglio in the 83rd minute and then the visitors missed the best chance of the game three minutes later. Lasogga fed Tolgay Arslan who set up Ivo Ilicevic for what appeared to be the winning goal, but the Croatian only found the crossbar.