"We simply had to stop it from going in"

Berlin  - Losing the points in the last minute is one of the most frustrating feelings in football for fans and players. Hertha had that experience on Saturday evening (16/02/19) as they drew 1-1 with Werder Bremen. Hertha were slightly the better team during the game. “We played well in the second half, but let them come on to us too much in the second. We had wanted to score a second goal, but didn’t manage that,” reflected a disappointed Ondrej Duda. Herthabsc.de has summarised the post-match reactions.

Valentino Lazaro: After around the hour mark, we realized that it might have been those days where we wouldn’t be able to score a second goal. Actually, in the closing stages, we played some clever football and started to run down the clock. For most of the match, we managed to keep our opponents away from our penalty box. This makes it all the more disappointing that we conceded in that manner from a free-kick in the dying seconds of the match. We should’ve put our bodies on the line for that free-kick. The simple fact is: we shouldn’t have conceded. If we had held on, we would’ve secured two more points and made our lives easier for next week. Personally, that was really annoying how we threw away two almost secured points. We certainly deserved more, but that is football.

Niklas Stark: We played well, but struggled on the flanks in the second half. Despite that, it was still 1-0 to us after 90 minutes, and all we had to do was defend. Whether it was a freekick or not doesn't matter - we've got to deal with every ball that comes our way. Everything went well in defence until that set-piece, so we're leaving here with just one point. It's absolute rubbish.

Maximilian Mittelstädt: It’s a really bitter outcome. We were unlucky with the free-kick since the ball went through the wall and into the goal. It was extremely annoying because we defended well for 90 minutes and have virtually nothing to show for it. Of course we can’t be 100 per cent satisfied but we can’t let our heads drop.

Ondrej Duda: At the end I didn’t even want to look while I was on the bench. When the opposition get a free-kick in that kind of area you know there’s always the possibility that it can go in. We played very well in the first half but then dropped off a bit in the second half. We let Bremen run at us too much and weren’t getting enough second balls. The plan was actually to go for a second goal after the break but we weren’t able to do that.

Sebastian Langkamp: This is a lucky result for us. We didn’t create enough chances and Hertha did their job well. They took our creative players out of the game with their man-to-man tactic. I’m really pleased for Claudio Pizarro. He is still a really important player for us and he showed that again today.