“It can happen once, but not twice”

The 33,305 fans packed into the MEWA ARENA on matchday 27 were treated to a thrilling finale, but it was Werder who ultimately left the happier of the two sides after the 2-2 draw. Ole Werner’s side came from behind twice to snatch a point in the most dramatic fashion as Niclas Füllkrug scored with the last kick of the game. Andreas Hanche-Olsen described it as a disaster after the final whistle and although Mainz left with a share of the spoils, the draw will feel like a defeat to many Zerofivers.

Reaction from the MEWA ARENA.

Martin Schmidt: “We are eight games unbeaten, that can be said. In the second half we were the better and more dangerous side. Both sides cancelled each other out before the break. We deservedly took the lead but we conceded straight way. That can happen once, but not twice. We’re still a little bit bewildered at what happened.”

Andreas Hanche-Olsen: “It’s not a nice feeling to have thrown away the three points. It’s a bit of a disaster and completely unacceptable. We cannot be giving away two goals straight after kick off. It needs to be more difficult to score against us.”

Ludovic Ajorque: “It’s obviously not a nice feeling after the way it panned out. Probably no one here has experienced a finish to a game like that. We need to analyse it and we go again next week. We wanted to be direct today and we didn’t quite manage that before the break, but the opponents also played a part in that. We came out better after the break but in the end we blew the lead twice.”

Stefan Bell: “We weren’t good enough tactically for the first goal we conceded. Weiser had too much time on the ball. We need to be better in that regard. For the second goal, we didn’t clear our lines properly and it was a total mess in the penalty area. We were more dominant after the break, we kept pressing and pushing forward. The lead was deserved. The result isn’t good enough. We have gone much of the season without conceding in games such as these. It doesn’t feel great right now and we’ll analyse it, but you can’t completely write off this performance.”