Tommy Doyle: Point-winner on debut

Tommy Doyle's debut in a competitive match lasted exactly seven minutes. And it ended in a big celebration around the 19-year-old Englishman. Actually, all those involved at HSV know that they have to thank the unlucky Dirk Carlson, who in the 94th minute, in the very last action of the game, pushed the ball over his own goal line with his head in an unfortunate attempt to clear the ball. However, the preceding action was a real challenge and almost led to the equaliser. In the middle of it all: Tommy Doyle. In the 87th minute, the player on loan from Manchester City, who had not yet played a single competitive minute for the Reds this season, was brought on by coach Tim Walter for Sonny Kittel. It was a last-ditch attempt to force an equaliser with a lucky punch. And it worked. 

A beautiful pass from Robert Glatzel released the Three Lions' U21 international on the left side of the penalty area and he skilfully lofted the ball over the rushing Männel towards the Auer box. Unfortunately, the ball only bounced against the crossbar, but the undercut and spin then surely played some part in Carlson's unfortunate header clearance. And so Doyle became an instant point-winner on his debut. "I'm delighted for Tommy and his action. He has a fine foot and what he can do on the ball, we saw today. But he still has to learn many things that he needs for our style of play," Tim Walter said in the post-match press conference. However, Doyle will not be available to the HSV coach for further development during the international break. The midfielder is in the England U21 squad for the qualifiers against Slovenia (7 October in Celje) and Andorra (11 October in Andorra). Nevertheless, he has already qualified for his next appearances in the Red shorts jersey. The start was made impressively on his debut in Aue.