Friendly

0-1 friendly loss against Huddersfield

The Rothosen lose the second game of their training camp in Kitzbühel by one goal to nil. Adama Diakhaby scored the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute.

HSV say goodbye to Kitzbühel on a sour note after losing the final game of their training camp in Austria. The Rothosen contrived to lose against the side relegated from the Premier League in May by one goal to nil on Saturday (13th July) at the Stadion in Langau. The Hamburg side were punished in the 22nd minute by Adama Diakhaby, who was lingering in the six-yard area and able to poke home after lax defending from a set-piece by HSV, and the Frenchman’s strike ended up being the only goal of an otherwise entertaining game.

Huddersfield Town’s right winger Adama Diakhaby scored the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute.

Dieter Hecking’s side saw significantly more of the ball and had 12 corners to the English side’s none but lacked the “necessary hunger” for a goal according to the manager. “Our opponents had one shot and scored. We had eight or ten at least promising attacks and don’t score. Again, we have to find fault with our conversion rate” analysed Hecking after the final whistle.

In the first half that killer instinct was lacking for Tim Leibold in the 9th and 33rd minute, as on both occasions the ball dropped to the left-back on the edge of the area after corners, only for his shot to narrowly evade the bottom-right hand corner of Schofield’s goal in the Huddersfield net on both occasions. Aaron Hunt’s chipped effort couldn’t match the quality of the ball over the top by young centre-back Jonas David and just after the half-hour mark Berkay Özcan’s right-footed effort just slid past the post after Sonny Kittel’s driving run had the Yorkshire side backing off. On the stroke of half-time HSV could have been awarded a penalty, as ex-Aston Villa defender Tommy Elphick appeared to strike Lukas Hinterseer with his elbow, but the referee remained unmoved and blew for half-time. The Hamburg manager also didn’t want to concentrate on the referee’s performance after the game: “It’s always difficult to find space against teams that sit back and lead you on to them. That was particularly prevalent in the second half as it got a lot tighter. We have to get used to that as it’s going to happen a lot in the 2. Liga as well. Even if it doesn’t work the first time you’ve got to look for one-against-one situations and generate an overlap to create chances”, was Hecking’s solution for his team’s current problem.

Jeremy Dudziak brought fresh impetus to the game after his substitution and had the best chance of the second period.

After the interval the 727 spectators who had packed into the Kitzbühel stadium were left waiting for a meaningful attack from the Championship side. The team from Yorkshire’s only chance of the second period once again came from a set-piece, as Australian Aaron Mooy’s free-kick sailed across the Hamburg box, lacking a telling final touch. Otherwise Daniel Heuer-Fernandes enjoyed a fairly untroubled afternoon in the Hamburg goal.

At the other end the Terriers substitute ‘keeper Joel Coleman had to be alert to twice deny fellow substitute Jeremy Dudziak. The Rothosen also looked dangerous from their own set pieces, but Kyriakos Papadopoulos’s header and Khaled Narey’s first-time effort on the volley from the edge of the box didn’t bring Coleman into action. “This hunger for goals isn’t something that you learn, you have to work hard for it,” explained Hecking and signalled what the task in the next few days shall be. Tomorrow the squad flies back to Hamburg and training shall resume at the Volksparkstadion on Tuesday. The final test of pre-season comes next Saturday (20th July, kick-off 1pm) against Belgian record champions RSC Anderlecht as part of the Volksparkfest.

The game summary:

HSV: Heuer Fernandes – Gyamerah (62‘ Jatta), David (62’ Papadopoulos), van Drongelen, Leibold (62’ Vagnoman) - Fein (72’ Moritz) - Hunt (72’ Dudziak), Özcan (46’ Narey) - Samperio (62’ Wintzheimer), Hinterseer (72’ Wood), Kittel

Huddersfield Town: Schofield (62’ Coleman) - Hadergjonaj (46’ Bockhorn), Elphick (46’ Edmonds Green), Schindler (46’ Stankovic), Kongolo (46’ J. Brown) - Hogg (46’ Makasi), O´Brien (46’ Mooy) - R. Brown (46’ Daly) - Diakhaby (46’ Koroma), Grant (46’ Kachunga), Pritchard (46’ van La Parra)

Goals: 0-1 Diakhaby (22’)

Attendance: 727

Referee: Walter Altmann