Hannover were pushed closer to relegation to the 2. Bundesliga as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Cologne on Saturday.
Cologne took the lead with their first shot of the game two minutes before half-time, with Marcel Risse squaring for the unmarked Leonardo Bittencourt, and the former Hannover midfielder could not miss from close range.
Bittencourt made it two on the hour mark, threading his shot through the legs of Salif Sane to beat Ron-Robert Zieler inside his near post.
Both goals had come against the run of play, but a luckless Hannover could find no answer as they fell to their eighth defeat in nine games under Thomas Schaaf, leaving them 10 points from safety with eight games of the season remaining.