Amos Pieper smacked the pitch in anger. Just five minutes after giving his side the lead, the defender made the error that led to Union’s equaliser. Despite their strong start to the game, it was ultimately a disappointing evening for Werder as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Berliners.
Amos Pieper started on the bench in Köln but he returned to the starting XI on Wednesday evening against FC Union. The defence looked solid at the start of the contest and Pieper made his way into the opposition penalty area when Werder were awarded a free kick inside the opening quarter of an hour. Marvin Ducksch took it and Pieper rose high to nod the ball past the keeper and into the net. The defender was finally able to celebrate his first goal for SVW.
Less than five minutes later, however, the summer signing was once again in the thick of the action, but this time for the wrong reasons. Pieper’s weak back pass to Pavlenka was snapped up by Kevin Behrens and Janik Haberer slotted it into the goal to put the visitors level. Pieper was annoyed after the game: “There were only a few minutes in between. Right now the mistake hurts more than the goal. It hurts because it cost us points.”
Nevertheless, Pieper’s teammates were there to defend him after the game. “Mistakes happen,” said captain Marco Friedl, “Pieper is a very reliable player who has a positive impact on the team both on and off the pitch,” said head coach Ole Werner. The 25-year-old also received words of encouragement from Leonardo Bittencourt: “That’s football. Mistakes happen. It hit him today but Amos knows that mistakes can happen to anyone in this team.”
The Green-Whites have the chance to make amends on Saturday against VfL Wolfsburg at the wohninvest WESERSTADION (15:30 CET).
