Pre-Season Friendly: Hannover 2 West Brom 1

A Craig Dawson own goal proved decisive as Hannover secured a 2-1 friendly win over West Brom on Thursday.

Dawson diverted Christian Pander’s 80th-minute effort past goalkeeper Ben Foster as the Bundesliga side bounced back from a 3-0 defeat at the hands of PSV Eindhoven in their previous pre-season outing.

Hannover took the lead midway through the first half thanks to Mame Biram Diouf before Markus Rosenberg levelled prior to the half-time interval.

Nicolas Anelka played his first game since joining West Brom in what was the club’s first pre-season fixture and the well-travelled striker tested goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler with an effort from the edge of the penalty area after 16 minutes.

Diouf, the former Molde and Manchester United striker, crashed a 25-yard effort inches wide two minutes later and also spurned another opportunity after 24 minutes before breaking the deadlock just before the half-hour mark.

Foster’s poor pass found Valmir Sulejmani and he played in Diouf to place the ball under his former Old Trafford team-mate.

However, Diouf’s joy was short-lived as he was injured in the process of scoring and was duly replaced.

Rosenberg hauled the sides level four minutes before half-time when he poked home James Morrison’s cross from six yards out.

West Brom manager Steve Clarke made eight changes after an hour, one of whom, England Under-21 international Dawson, endured a frustrating introduction.

Dawson deflected Pander’s shot into his own net after 80 minutes and Artur Sobiech came close to adding a third for Hannover when his effort rebounded back off the post.