FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz: “Both teams had chances. It was an entertaining game for the fans and very intensive. My boys gave their all once again. What pleases me most is the way we brushed ourselves down after half-time, when we were going through a bad spell, and immediately stepped up a gear and got our just reward with a fine goal. We could have won it if we’d taken our chances towards to the end, but when all’s said and done we’re happy to take a point against a very strong Darmstadt side. We’ll analyse what we could have done better, of course, but today it’s more a feeling of happiness over the point, even if I’d have preferred all three.”

Marcel Hartel: “We set out to take all three points, of course, and if you look at the way the game went, we would have deserved it. We were excellent in the first half and created a host of chances. We’d could easily have scored twice, which would have given us a boost going in at half-time. In the second half, we weren’t resolute enough to let the ball do the work and we conceded the goal. We’ve often let it get to us this season, but today we set out to change that and pull ourselves together. We did that well and put in a very good performance. We have to be more clinical in front of goal. You can never replicate a game in training, but we have to stay calmer, and we have the quality to do that. Apart from a brief spell after the break it was a superb performance from us. We definitely would have deserved all three points.”

Leart Paqarada: “It would have been a nicer football evening for sure if we’d taken all three points. Nevertheless, I have to pay the team a huge compliment. It says a lot for the team that we put in a performance like that against the league leaders, especially after going behind. We weathered the Darmstadt pressure, covered each other well and played some good football on top. Our goal shows what we’re capable of and the quality we have in the team, but we have to reward ourselves more often for the effort we put in. Creating these chances and goals is intensive. While a long ball is sometimes enough for our opponents, we have to give 120% to get into such positions. We always want to win every game and when you draw you feel like you’re not really making any headway, but we can proud of getting a point against the league leaders.”

Lukas Daschner: “We can’t fault the performance. The only thing we can reproach ourselves for is the failure to take our chances. Darmstadt struggled to get going and operated with lots of long balls. It tells you something when the league leaders come here and don’t have many footballing options simply because we did well, which is why I’m pleased with the team’s showing in general. The Darmstadt goal was individual quality, of course, which is why they’re rightly top of the table. We can be proud of the performance. With the derby win, the Freiburg game and even Bielefeld, it hasn’t all been bad. We’re always there and have our chances. We have reason to be satisfied, but we have to reward ourselves more. I’m not worried, though, because we always bring our quality to the pitch and I’m sure we will get our reward. Everyone is training well and it’s only a matter of time until the floodgates open. We have great morale and proved that again today.”

Torsten Lieberknecht (Darmstadt head coach): “We saw a game with several phases. I think both teams had good spells and not so good spells. In the first half we had situations where we gave the ball away quickly after winning it, which made things intense and meant we had to do a lot of running. We did that very well and almost took the lead. That was just when St. Pauli were having their good spell. We switched to a 4-2-3-1 before the break and were more composed in our passing. We took the lead and almost added a second through Phillip Tietz. That may have been the winner. St. Pauli then got their reward with the equaliser after the triple substitution. After that it was important how we acquitted ourselves. We showed we have stability despite our massive injury problems, so I take my hat off to the team. One-one is a fair result, at least that’s how I see it.”

Photos: FC St. Pauli