Fein: “Win and stop the negative trend”

Perhaps one of the few bright sparks from a disappointing afternoon in Aue on Saturday was the appearance of Adrian Fein from the substitute’s bench, playing the final half an hour on his return to the side. The 20-year-old is forced to wear a carbon mask to protect the fractured cheekbone that he suffered at the beginning of the month against Karlsruhe at the Volksparkstadion, something that was of interest for the waiting journalists at Tuesday’s press conference, as the midfielder answered questions before facing his old employers Regensburg on Saturday. “At the moment I train and play in a carbon mask. Of course it’s a bit strange to wear it, but I have the whole week of training to continue to get used to it. I’m going to throw myself into every challenge and header.”

Fein wants to do his best to turn the ship around, with his teammates winless in the three games that he has been missing for. “We have to get three points at the weekend and stop the negative trend. That’s the attitude that we’re going into the game with.” The on-loan midfielder, who spent last campaign at Jahn Regensburg, sees belief in the team’s own strengths as key to getting a result on Saturday: “As soon as we have a good result, we will be able to play more freely. We have to work hard, so that we start to get the rewards for our good performances again.” The 20-year-old can understand the frustration from the fans but sees them as having an important role in helping the team to turn things around: “The loss in the Hamburg derby and the loss in Aue were very disappointing. But now we need our fans in this difficult moment, this togetherness has made us strong throughout the season.”