FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler: “It wasn’t spectacular but interesting, nevertheless. We began well without creating any big chances. We gave the ball away too cheaply too often in the first half and invited Fürth to counter, which they do well. I was pleased with the second half. We controlled the game and had good spells of possession. We also created some big chances and wanted the goal. We have to settle for the point in the end but can be satisfied with the performance over the 90 minutes. You can interpret the last action differently, today it didn’t go in our favour. We’d have loved to take the three points, of course, but sometimes that’s the way it goes in football.”

Jackson Irvine: “On the one hand, it’s another clean sheet and we haven’t lost, but it’s the second game in a row where we can say we had the better chances but didn’t score. The disallowed goal in time added on is really hard to take, of course. Both teams kept the tempo high in difficult conditions. Sometimes you have to adjust to it first and you could tell that was the case for both teams midway through the first half. Greuther Fürth make it hard for teams with their positive aggression and intensity, as we experienced ourselves last season. I still think we had enough chances to win the game, though. We knocked the ball around well in the second half.”

Andreas Albers: “It was a hot game with few chances. The teams lacked a bit of energy in the first half. We made some adjustments in the second and that opened things up and we created several decent opportunities. We always want to see a lot of the ball and dictate the play and we did that, but we lacked clear-cut chances. My foot was offside when the ball was played in for my goal. The question is whether the defender deliberately played the ball. The officials ruled that he didn't. I take a different view. We wanted to win here but it’s never easy at Fürth and we’ll take the point.”

Scott Banks: “The support was amazing. I’d heard a lot about the fan base and the support, and it was great to experience it away from home. I’m sorry the goal was disallowed and we couldn’t reward the fans and ourselves with three points. I was convinced it would count. It’s a difficult pill to swallow so late in the game. I felt good on the ball on my debut. I hit a good cross but also made a couple of mistakes. I’m looking forward to the next game and the support from the stands and within the club. I’ve been made to feel very welcome; everyone makes you feel comfortable. The whole team gets behind you and that’s made it easy for me to settle in.”

Alexander Zorniger (Fürth head coach): “The heat was obviously an issue. We tried to exploit our pace, especially with Tim Lemperle, and he had some good chances as well. We were pleased with how controlled our play was in the first half. I don’t think St. Pauli had a chance of note there. That was no longer the case in the second half, we weren’t aggressive enough, though we did have two good opportunities we should have taken. Both teams can be content with the draw in the end. It was a physical game and eventually the heat was a factor.”

Photos: FC St. Pauli