German Bundesliga report: Mainz and Hannover goalless

Mainz and Hannover played out a 0-0 draw at the Coface Arena on Sunday afternoon as both sides extended their unbeaten start to the Bundesliga season.

Chances were few and far between, although Hannover, who beat Schalke last weekend and could have gone top of the table with another win, had the better of a tight 90 minutes.

The hosts only had a few shots on goal, both from Johannes Geis, and would therefore likely have been happier than their visitors to pick up a point.

Mainz came into the game still seeking their first win of the season after defeats in the Europa League and DFB-Pokal and a draw in Paderborn last weekend.

That run of negative results appeared to have left a mark on Kasper Hjulmand's men as they prioritised caution over creativity early on.

That suited Hannover, who did not seem too keen on doing more than the bare minimum either, resulting in a lack of incident at either end.

That changed only in the final few minutes of the first half when the visitors had their first real opening of the game with Leonardo Bittencourt crossing for Joselu to head towards Loris Karius' goal with the Mainz goalkeeper making a save.

From the resulting corner, Karius was called into action once again to deny Miiko Albornoz.

Hannover went close to breaking the deadlock early in the second half also when Hiroshi Kiyotake beat Karius, but not Christoph Moritz on the line.

Geis sent in Mainz's first effort on goal as the game entered its final third, and his second followed just three minutes from time.

Neither were good enough to test Ron Robert Zieler, or to break the deadlock in a goalless draw.