"A fair result"

HSV took the lead in the top match of matchday 18 against Schalke 04 through a header by Robert Glatzel after just two minutes from the first corner. As the game progressed, however, the Rothosen were unable to implement their usual possession game of recent weeks with any consistency and not only had to concede 13 corners from the visitors, but also the 1-1 scoreline three minutes before the end of normal time after the unlucky last corner. Ko Itakura finally pushed the ball over the line (87th). The goal annoyed the players, but they also had to admit that the draw was a deserved result in the end. Quotes from the game: 

Jonas Meffert: At the end of the day, the draw was deserved. Schalke played a good game. We fought and put everything into it, but we lacked the final consistency to play to nil. It hurts. Overall, we weren't that good in the game. Schalke could have taken advantage of one or two of our mistakes. We lacked the winning gene to score the second goal. 

Moritz Heyer: It's extremely bitter that we got the equaliser at the end, but you also have to say that it was deserved because Schalke put a lot of pressure on us and we were lucky in one or two situations. It was a deserved result, but we are still disappointed not to have taken the lead. 

Tim Walter: We started the game very well and scored the goal with our first action. That didn't do us as much good today as it usually does us. Nevertheless, we played well in the first half and didn't allow much except for shots from distance. In the second half, we made a mistake with our first contact with the ball. That continued for a while. We weren't brave enough and invited the opponent to win the ball and create chances. In the end, it was a fair draw. We were better in the first half, Schalke in the second. 

Dimitrios Grammozis: The game started very badly. It was a cold start for us. But I never had the feeling, even after conceding a goal, that we were unstable and that the boys couldn't pick it up. In the first half, we had some great ball sequences and a lot of shots on goal. The second half was then brutally dominant from us. We pushed HSV back into their own half and didn't let them down. The one point is too little for us. We would have deserved to win.