Heading into the international break with “mixed feelings”

Following the final whistle, it was probably Sepp van den Berg (both the Dutchman and Dominik Kohr will be missing for FSV after the international due to picking up their fifth yellow cards of the season) who best described the 05ers’ feelings after the draw in Darmstadt. The central defender said that he would be going back home with “mixed feelings”. After a good opening period for Mainz, the hosts managed to cancel out the 05ers, making for an even game, with both teams going toe-to-toe for long periods. With both teams missing chances to get that all-important goal in a hectic end to the game, the draw was a fair result on the balance of play, whilst it was a result which Mainz can take positives away from, even if there remains plenty of work to do in order to edge further away from the bottom of the table.

Reaction from Darmstadt

Sepp van den Berg: “I’ve got mixed feelings after the game. I think that we started well in both halves. You can’t press for 90 minutes, but we eased off a little bit. Nevertheless, we could’ve scored and picked up another win after last weekend. It’s important that we kept another clean sheet – we need to build on that. We’ve got the international break now, but we will keep working as we want to play better and create more chances. We’re still near the bottom of the table and we need to regain our self-confidence bit by bit in all areas.”

Martin Schmidt: “We have kept two consecutive clean sheets and we’re unbeaten in our last three away games. These are things that count for a lot at the moment and these things can help us to move up the table and get out of trouble. We were solid for long spells, but we didn’t deserve more than a point. Darmstadt sat deep today, meaning that our plan to get Ajorque into the game using the pace of Onisiwo and Lee didn’t quite work out. It’s difficult to play here – other teams will also have a tough time in Darmstadt. If you don’t win, then it’s important to get a point. We would have let something get through three or four weeks ago. Jan Siewert has come in, stabilised the team and picked up four points. We have full faith in the current set-up and we aren’t talking to anyone else currently.”

Robin Zentner: “I think we need to accept the point. Of course, we were hoping for more – you could see that from my point of view. At the end of the game, there were chances for both teams, so the draw is a fair result. Keeping our second straight clean sheet makes us feel better for the time being.”