FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin: "We're absolutely delighted with the three points. They'll do us good. We got our reward today after lots of games against top sides this season where we were very close, but didn't take advantage of the momentum. We were really aggressive in the right areas and had some good turnovers. The goal was a huge relief. You can't keep Stuttgart away from your goal for the entire 90 minutes, that's clear, and we defended a little deeper, which means they'll always create chances. The way we defended and threw ourselves in the way of every ball was simply magnificent. We had some good opportunities to add a second or a third on the break in the second half, but that would have been too much, that's for sure. Stuttgart were always in the game and tried everything. Niko was outstanding in goal and I have nothing but praise for my team! The win will give us a boost."

Johannes Eggestein: "I'm very proud of the performance today. We worked so hard off the ball and left our mark on the game. As a striker you have to hope for a moment like the first goal. It's something I'm always practising in training. Control, move and shoot. I'm delighted it came off today. With the penalty, I decided to go down the middle and Alexander Nübel spotted it. I took a decision and it didn't come off. It happens. Even after the penalty we had the chances to settle it by adding a second but we didn't, so it remained exciting to the end."

Oladapo Afolayan: "It was a hard-fought victory. When I see how much we invested, I think we deserved it. We defended really well as a team, especially around the box, which meant Stuttgart had hardly any chances of note. It's frustrating that we didn't take any of the chances to make it 2-0 but we got there as a team in the end."

Carlo Boukhalfa: "We were solid and defended well, albeit a little deeper than in recent matches. It worked well even though Stuttgart had chances on account of their quality. We threw ourselves at every ball and deserved to win. We motivated each other. When you see your teammates throwing themselves in the way of every ball, you do the same yourself. It was a top performance today. You need a bit of luck as well and we had it today. It got exciting towards the end because of our chance conversion, but it feels great to have won here today. It's been a tiring season so far, so we need the time off and then we go again .“

Sebastian Hoeness (VfB Stuttgart head coach): "We're incredibly disappointed. We didn't start well but had some good chances before we gave the goal away. We shouldn't be conceding like that, it was too easy both in the build-up and in our clearances. It isn't the first time we've conceded from the first real chance our opponents have. St. Pauli run further than any other team and kept getting a foot in and packed the defence. We had good positions to shoot on occasions, but the shots were blocked. We began well after the restart and had two good chances before St. Pauli had a chance that we initiated. I don't know if the game would have been settled had the penalty gone in. It took us another 10 to 15 minutes to get going, but it wasn't to be. We could have gone on for longer without scoring, though we had some good chances. We're disappointed. It could have ended in a draw, but St. Pauli fought with passion and deserved the win. We have to accept it."

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters