"If you don’t take your own chances, you get punished"
Sunday, 25. August 2024, 22:00 Uhr
After a somewhat nervous start, our Boys in Brown got steadily better and put in a good performance. Due to not converting chances, however, it would ultimately count for nothing against a clinical Heidenheim side. After the final whistle, coach and players looked back on the game with mixed feelings.
Head coach Alexander Blessin: “In the first 15 minutes, we had some difficulties and lost possession a couple of times in midfield. But then we increasingly came better into the game and kept hold of the ball better. In the second half we were a lot better and had clear chances. Then during that very period of pressure, where I thought we were more likely to score, we go and get a counter like that. We paid dearly there. After Hauke’s big chance there was a bit of back and forth. And when they countered we needed to be cleverer and foul early on. Then take the yellow card and get ourselves properly into position. There are a lot of positives we can take. The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and in that respect the Bundesliga can be happy its got St. Pauli. The defeat won’t knock us off course. Today we can be sad, but as of tomorrow we’ll take the positives and then it’s soon off to Union for the next game.”
Jackson Irvine: “We missed the chance to beat Heidenheim with the opportunities we had. In that respect, they taught us a lesson. There was a lot we did right, until it came to the final pass. You only have one chance to play the perfect pass. That can then change the whole game. We’ve got to learn from that. We dropped points we could have taken today and that hurts.”
Johannes Eggestein: “At the start of the second half in particular we were looking very good up front and had a couple of chances that we had to take to tip the game our way. We didn’t do that and then we got severely punished by a well-executed counter-attack. That’s the difference too between the first and the second league. There you still often get a third or fourth chance and do still win the game. We’ve got to get better at converting chances, and then we’ll be able to pick up points and win matches.”
Eric Smith: “Today’s game was a perfect example of the difference between the Bundesliga and second-tier football. If you don’t take your own chances, you get punished. We had three golden opportunities, but didn’t convert them. The way their first goal came about is very annoying. And it was only those two chances that Heidenheim had. Our performance was good enough to win the game. In the end, it was efficiency that made the difference. We’ve got to learn from this game and get better. Hopefully, by next week.”
Hauke Wahl: “We played well for long periods and allowed the opposition very few chances. Just one shot in the first half and after the break the two situations that led to their goals on the back of dead-ball situations. We’re extremely annoyed with ourselves about that. We created lots of chances, but we also lacked that bit of luck and the final touch. All you can say is: that’s the Bundesliga. Heidenheim get two sights of goal and win 2-0. Our efficiency is something we have to work on. If you put the result to one side, in terms of performance it was a good start from us.”
Photo: Witters
