Heuer Fernandes after slapstick goal: "Extremely unfortunate"
After what was probably the most curious own goal in the long history of the Hamburg city derby at FC St. Pauli, HSV goalkeeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes kept his composure. The fact that he and his team drew 2-2 with the 2nd Bundesliga leaders on Friday evening despite trailing 2-0 at half-time helped him to overcome his frustration.
"Of course that's extremely unfortunate. I also imagined it would be different. But that happens in soccer," said the 31-year-old after his first own goal in his 180th second division match. "You can't undo it either." Afterwards, the team said "we want to make up for it as a team. And that's what we did."
The scene for the sports review of the year had taken place in the 27th minute. At that point, FC St. Pauli were 1:0 in front thanks to Jackson Irvine's goal (15th). The visitors took a short kick via Stephan Ambrosius and Guilherme Ramos. After Ramos passed to Heuer Fernandes, the ball bounced just in front of goal. The goalkeeper tried to clear the ball out of the penalty area - but the ball flew into his own net.
"That was a normal build-up play, as we often do," said Heuer Fernandes. "I want to shoot the ball off the line, then the ball bounces and I shoot it into the goal," said Heuer Fernandes.
Coach Tim Walter took the accidental action with humor in view of the point win and called Heuer Fernandes' mishap a "slapstick goal" on TV channel Sky. "It'll be in the funniest scenes of the year and the highlights," predicted the HSV coach. Goalscorer Robert Glatzel said: "I can't count how many times he's saved our asses. So that's not an issue at all."
Glatzel (58') and Immanuel Pherai (60') had at least saved a point and Heuer Fernandes' evening with their goals in the second half. The HSV fans had forgiven the usually reliable goalkeeper anyway. They celebrated him after the final whistle. "Of course it's nice to hear," said Heuer Fernandes. "That's part of it. It's an interplay between the fans and the team."
Source: www.dpa.com
