6th matchday
Darmstadt celebrates its first win of the season against weak Werder
Tim Skarke (M) celebrates Darmstadt’s first win of the season with Christoph Klarer (l). photo
© Uwe Anspach/dpa
Darmstadt 98 celebrated their longed-for first success since the Bundesliga comeback at the sixth attempt. Bremen remains a welcome guest abroad.
Rising star has heart and passion Darmstadt 98 won their first win of the season in the Bundesliga and left the relegation places.
The Hessians won 4:2 (2:0) against Werder Bremen and moved up to 15th place with four points. Bremen, who were disappointing for long periods of the game, remain winless away from home this season and are in the lower middle of the table with six points.
In front of 17,810 spectators, Matthias Bader, Tim Skarke (25th), Marvin Mehlem (50th) and Tobias Kempe (62nd) scored the goals with a hand penalty in the 5th minute for coach Torsten Lieberknecht’s fighting and playful team. Olivier Deman (70th) and Milos Veljkovic (79th) scored for Werder, but overall they had a weak performance – flawed in defense and mostly harmless in attack.
Darmstadt awake from the start
“I expect Darmstadt to play an active and aggressive style,” Werder coach Ole Werner warned on the DAZN microphone shortly before kick-off. However, his charges seemed a little surprised by this. The home team had their first chance after just 73 seconds. A shot from Fabian Nürnberger, who had been brought into the starting line-up at short notice to replace Emir Karic, who was injured during the warm-up, only landed on the goal net.
The warning shot apparently went unheard by the guests, because a little later Bader took the lead for the Lilies with a direct shot from a cross from Mehlem. The midfielder was completely free when he finished at the far post and gave visiting goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka no chance with his well-placed low shot from around ten meters.
Bremen harmless
Werder needed a set piece to pose some danger for the first time after a quarter of an hour. Marvin Ducksch, who was able to participate despite minor back problems, tested Darmstadt’s goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen with a direct free kick. However, the guests didn’t have anything more to offer on offense in the first half.
The promoted team no longer played forward as forcefully as in the initial phase. But a subtle move was enough to dupe the Bremen defense a second time. Nürnberger served Skarke with a long pass, who flicked the ball into the far corner from a half-left position.
Pieper scores
Shortly after the change, Werder unexpectedly had the chance to connect. After a cross from Ducksch, Darmstadt’s defense chief Klaus Gjasula directed the ball to the post of his own goal. Just 120 seconds later the hosts were cheering again. After a catastrophic bad pass from Bremen defender Amos Pieper, Bader set up Mehlem, who kept his nerve in front of Pavlenka and finished.
And things got even worse for the guests when Pieper deflected a shot from Mathias Honsak with his hand. According to video evidence, referee Martin Petersen gave a penalty, which Kempe converted with a bit of luck. The late Bremen goals only had statistical value.