... but no goals
That didn’t change after the break as both teams got stuck in giving no quarter making it as expected a scrappy relegation fight with virtually no skill on display. Both sides tried the long ball approach in their desperation to break the deadlock but both defences usually comfortably dealt with that ploy. The tension could have been cut with a knife at Hamburg and Mainz cancelled each other out in midfield which of course meant little or no goalmouth action. The crowd continued to scream HSV forward but to no avail. The goalless result was about right on the balance of play but in truth Mainz were the happier side with their share of the spoils. HSV’s fans chanted the team towards the final two games of the season away to Schalke and finally at home to Niedersachsen rivals VfL Wolfsburg. As expected the relegation scrap will go down to the wire and we will see which set of fans has any fingernails left after a long and arduous season.
Match details:
HSV: Mathenia - Diekmeier (88. Ostrzolek), Papadopoulos, Mavraj, Sakai - Janjicic, Jung - Hunt ( 82. Gregoritsch), Holtby (68. Jatta), Kostic - Wood
1. FSV Mainz 05: Huth - Donati, Bell, Balogun, Brosinski - Gbamin, Latza (78. Frei) - Öztunali (63. Samperio), De Blasis - Cordoba, Muto (87. Ramalho)
Goals: -
Att: 53.915
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)
Booked: Sakai (71.), Mavraj (80.) / Donati (78.)