Post match reaction
16.03.19
"There’s no explanation for the second half"
HSV lost 3-2 against SV Darmstadt 98 on Matchday 26 after taking a 2-0 lead. Here’s the reaction from the Rothosen after the game.
HSV were well on their way to a perfect Matchday 26 in their match at home against Darmstadt on Saturday (16th March). After promotion rivals Union Berlin made a mess of their chance, the Rothosen appeared to have done their homework and began the game extradordinarily, taking a very early 2-0 lead through Bakery Jatta (5’) and Pierre-Michel Lasogga (16’). The problem was that Hamburg lost their grip on the match in the second half, which allowed the opposition to completely turn the head on its head and win with goals from Marvin Mehlem (52’ and 90’+3) and Tobias Kempe (82’). The party atmosphere in the Volksparkstadion during the match turned into the feeling of a hangover in the mixed zone after the match as the HSV players were left with no explanation for the second half.
Khaled Narey: There’s no explanation for the second half. We can’t be conceding three goals in one half here at home. We didn’t manage to start the second half with the same energy we began the match with. It’s a big shame because we didn’t take advantage of Union Berlin’s loss so we missed out on pulling out a six-point gap over them. We have to focus more on ourselves. If we don’t in games like these, then we can’t be thinking about any distractions.
Berkay Özcan: We were great in the first half, we were leading 2-0. We knew in the back of our minds that it’d be difficult if they came back so we really wanted to get a third goal. That didn’t happen for us so everything changed when they scored their opening goal. That’s football. We have to be more adept and push for that third goal, then something like this wouldn’t happen. We have to learn from this.
Hannes Wolf: We started the game well and were playing the way we wanted to. But even in the first half we'd started to lose our control on the match – our opponents just didn't have any big chances to punish us for it. We knew that a 2-0 lead can always be dangerous and wanted to continue to push forward in the second half. Then we came out and conceded the first goal. After that, we woke up and were more aware. Then we conceded the free kick and the game was level at 2-2. After that, we had a few chances of our own in their box, but couldn’t find the net. We lost the game right at the end, it’s very frustrating. Now we have to get back on our feet, wake up and work hard over the international break.
Dimitrios Grammozis: We’re very happy. In the first half, we didn’t play well, especially in the opening stages of the game. A few changes then gave us some stability, which was important for our game. The performance in the second half was super. After we’d equalised, the game was thrown wide open and it was end-to-end stuff. We could have gone behind in that phase, but we managed to grab the winner right at the end with a last attack. We’re unbelievably happy with the tree points.