FC St. Pauli

Director of sport Andreas Rettig: "We withstood the pressure for 90 minutes and claimed our fifth win in a row. We deserved it and have every reason to celebrate."

Sören Gonther: "I'm lost for words, when you consider all the things that were said about us. The players didn't let it get to them – despite the first half of the season. The lads can take the plaudits for that. We're hugging each other today."

Lasse Sobiech: "We spoke to each other at training camp and said we could do it. It's a great achievement by the lads. We know what this club means. The whole district agonises with the club and this win is extremely important for them as well."

Christopher Buchtmann: "After a terrible first half of the season we all pulled together and worked our backsides off until we eventually turned things round. It's great fun with this squad. To the all the St. Pauli fans in the pubs and clubs in Hamburg – down the hatch!"

Aziz Bouhaddouz: "We always believed in ourselves. My compliments to everyone in the squad and the people around it. We gave our all right to the end and we're just happy now. The winter break was the key to this key success. We regrouped and came out of it stronger."

Philipp Heerwagen: "That wasn't the final step – but it was a bloody important one. We can't afford to let up. There are still six points up for grabs – and I want them so bad!"

Bernd Nehrig: "I've got goosebumps. It's hard to put these 41 points into words. We never gave up. It's just so awesome. It was a horrible game but we landed the right punches. Proud is not the word for it."

Waldemar Sobota: "We wanted to play with courage and keep our winning run going. We had to fight to do that and that's what we did. Everyone was writing us off but we showed that we stayed strong inside."

Photos: Witters