FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin: "We knew it would be tight and a lot would come down to tackles and second balls. I felt we didn't start well. We lacked the intensity to cut out the long balls. We were poor on the second balls, and didn't get into the tackles. We built Bochum up by giving the ball away needlessly. We take the blame for not getting into the game properly, and that includes me. We could have scored two. Jacko had a huge chance before the goal. We should have taken the lead there, which would have given us more composure in our play. At the other end you get punished. We allowed them a couple of chances to break towards the end and could have shipped a second. We have to accept it, turn the focus to Heidenheim and show a different face there."

Jackson Irvine: "We're obviously very frustrated. It was exactly the type of game we were expecting. There were chances at both ends and I missed the biggest of ours. It would have ended differently if I'd scored there. Bochum had one or two big chances on transition after we'd lost possession in the final third. Otherwise we've been very good at that away from home, but today it wasn't good enough. One goal settled it in the end. We didn't get the basics right today. We weren't solid at the back and didn't have enough quality with the ball. We simply weren't good enough at the easy parts of the game. It all goes very quickly now, there's very little time. Back to Hamburg, then off to Heidenheim for the next game. Sometimes it's good to have two games in quick succession to allow you to recover from a bad result."

Philipp Treu: "The defeat hurts a lot. We knew how important the game was. We knew it's a cauldron here, the pitch is bad and they hit lots of long balls. We struggled with that today. Bochum got the goal and deserved to win the game. Nevertheless, we've ended the first half of the season outside the drop zone and that's our aim for the second half. We won't stick our heads in the sand now. We have to draw a line under the game very quickly. We go to Heidenheim on Saturday. It'll be a very different game."

Dieter Hecking (VfL Bochum head coach): "It was obvious we weren't going to see any champagne football today and it was going to be about intensity, hard work and strength in the tackle. I have to say we gave a very good account of ourselves. We were aggressive and ready to get stuck in. It isn't easy against St. Pauli. They've conceded very few goals. They don't give you many gaps to run into. We had a huge chance through Gerrit where we could and perhaps should have taken the lead. We could also have gone behind. Taking the lead was important today. I'd have preferred us to play with more composure then. You got the feeling we had something to lose. St. Pauli threw everyone forward in the last few minutes, but we took three crucial points in the end."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters