FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin: "We're delighted with the way the game went. We were set alight by the fans. It sends shivers down my spine when I think of the reception they gave us when we arrived. The lads were wide awake from the off and moved the game in the right direction. Our work against the ball was excellent. We were patient as well and struck at the right time. Philipp pushed forward really well and then had the composure to spot his teammate. I'm pleased we've been able to give the fans something back. The atmosphere was incredible. Friday night matches are so enjoyable here. We take the three points into the break now but still have a really tough job to do in the remaining eight games. We went through a sticky patch even though we were playing well. Today we got our reward."

Jackson Irvine: "It's obviously a relief. After the game at Wolfsburg I said it was a good step and we took another step today. Today's win is the reward for the last few weeks when we didn't get the right results. We kept believing in ourselves and always kept going."

Noah Weißhaupt: "It was an extremely important win because the teams around us have been picking up points. We can go into the international break with a good feeling. The coach set us up really well. Our pressing was excellent and Hoffenheim had to hit lots of long balls. It was a really good performance and we also fought very hard and were rough in the tackles. Before my goal Philipp [Treu] did brilliantly to win the ball and then he showed great vision. I was left with an easy task. Philipp had a huge hand in the goal. It was very important for me to break my duck. I'd been hitting the bar, post and everything else besides."

Philipp Treu: "It was a magical evening. We were so motivated after the reception we got from the fans that we wanted to go out on the pitch right away. The fans were outstanding. They applauded us every time we won a tackle. The fans energised us today and we returned the favour on the pitch. It was a performance full of desire and an incredibly important win against one of our closest rivals. I saw that Hoffenheim had changed things round at the break and were looking to play out through their No6 and I anticipated that for the goal. After I'd lifted the ball over Baumann I wasn't sure whether there was another Hoffenheim player on the line, so I opted to pass it to Noah. It was a huge effort towards the end."

Christian Ilzer (Hoffenheim coach): "Congratulations to St. Pauli on a highly deserved win. We were unable to come up with any answers or generate the energy they brought to the pitch today. Only towards the end of the game were we able to entrench ourselves in their half, but we were unable to create any danger or stress in their defence. We practically scored their goal ourselves. We wanted to prevent St. Pauli from closing the gap to us, but the performance today simply wasn't good enough."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters