“We showed a good reaction tonight”

Die Rothosen managed to get over the line against Darmstadt, despite a late home goal to bring them back into the game. The first win in three games was deserved, even though it was nervy at the death. The Hamburg players gave everything over 96 intensive minutes and were relieved to gain their third away win in four games this season. HSV.de presents the post-game reactions:

Aaron Hunt: We showed a good reaction tonight and had full control of the match for 80 minutes. We made it difficult for ourselves in the last ten minutes. We just about managed to overcome the difficult end to the game. Our team is very young so a win tonight was very important. The last couple of weeks have been a bad patch for us, but I think you will always have to experience those in a season. The only important thing for me is that we reach our goals this season and tonight was an important step in that direction.

Khaled Narey: It’s always unpleasant when the opponents are throwing everything at you at the end, especially with long balls. You can be unlucky in these situations and concede, but thankfully we managed to weather the storm and survive the five minutes added on. The win will give us a good feeling going into the international break. Aaron’s early goal was important and Lewis’ gave us room to breathe. Every player will go through bad periods, but these two are so important to us. Obviously I would like to start games whenever I can, but we have a lot of good attacking players in the squad, who naturally all want to be playing. You have to take your chance when you get it, which I feel I did tonight once I came on.

Ralf Becker: The win will do us the world of good. We concentrated well from the start and deservedly took the lead. It was a step in the right direction today, even if it got a bit nervy at the end. We wanted to show a positive reaction and did just that tonight. It’s not easy to come here and win either.

Christian Titz: We started the game well, controlled the play and scored two nice goals. We wanted to try and catch them on the counter in the second half. 37 minutes into the second half I thought to myself, nothing more will happen in this game. But then we conceded from a set-piece and the game came to life again. The stadium was louder and they threw the kitchen sink at us. Thankfully we got the win that we deserved in the end.

Dirk Schuster: HSV controlled the game at the start. We wanted to be tight at the back and get stuck in. We didn’t give them any real chances before the 1-0 and then conceded a goal due to a tactical error on our part. It is difficult to come from behind against a team like HSV. In the second half I thought we played a lot better and had the better chances. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the goal we needed. However, we did keep fighting until the end and never gave up. The more efficient team won.