FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz: "I think 1-1 was a fair result in the end. We had a lot of possession in the first half but didn't play our way into the final third often enough. We lacked dynamism and didn't make the best of our two against ones. Düsseldorf did well, though. We made a superb start to the second half, of course, and got a nice goal. Cello finally got his reward there. He's been getting into the box quite often in recent weeks and had several chances. The game ebbed and flowed after that, and Düsseldorf had some good chances as well. Who else but Rouwen would get the equaliser? We still had control of the game, though, and created a couple of really good chances. We could have gone 2-1 up and looked more likely to win it. If you look at the opportunities Düsseldorf had, though, it's a point we can live with. We always lose at Düsseldorf otherwise. We take a point back to Hamburg with us, no one can take it from us."

Marcel Hartel: "We knew from the outset it would be a difficult game here. We didn't get into the game well. We didn't control the game the way we like in the first half and weren't winning the ball. We came out much better after the break, though. We played some good attacking football and combined well. All in all, we can be satisfied with the 1-1 draw. My goal wasn't as easy as it looked. It was outstanding vision from Kofi, and a peach of a pass, of course."

Philipp Ziereis: "It was a tough away game for us, but we were slightly closer to winning it in the end. It was a good performance against a very good Fortuna side and we're happy to take a point. You saw the quality Rouwen has in the box when he scored. We were perhaps a little too passive at that stage of the game and allowed Düsseldorf to get down the flanks, which is how the goal came. We recovered well after that and were in the ascendency in the last few minutes. We might have won it if the game had gone on a little longer."

Christian Preusser (Fortuna Düsseldorf head coach): "I share the view that a draw is OK. We went into the game looking for a repeat of the Darmstadt performance, which I think we did very well. We were brave, showed good presence and decided to stick with the tactics of recent weeks. After we went behind, we felt we had to change something and switching to a back four created a few moments for us. St. Pauli piled on the pressure in the last 15 minutes and I'm glad the goal was offside because we've dropped points on a couple of occasions late on. Today we defended to the end and had a few opportunities on the break where we could have won the game. It's the small steps that will get us out of this situation. We go home with a good feeling."

Rouwen Hennings (Fortuna Düsseldorf): "St. Pauli are the strongest team in the second division. They have unbelievable quality in midfield, a very prolific striker in Burgstaller and in Kyereh a very dynamic player and provider of assists. They have lots of excellent players and deserve to top the table. It was a bit more difficult for us to defend today than against Darmstadt last week, the quality of the play was a notch higher. Unfortunately, we were unable to relieve the pressure up front the way we did last week."

Khaled Narey (Fortuna Düsseldorf): "It was an evenly balanced game. St. Pauli are rightly up there, they're a very good side who take some defending against. We did that well for long periods but fell asleep for their goal and got punished straightaway. We showed superb morale, though, and came back well. With a bit of luck, we could have turned the game right round."

Photos: Witters