(47) Agonizing - 62 seconds after the second half kicks off, Claudio Pizarro has to put Bremen ahead here. Kruse put in an excellent cross from the right, but Pizarro’s totally uncontested header from six metres out goes centimeters wide of the far post.
(51) Werder should be leading by now! Bauer’s long ball from the left finds the unmarked Gebre Selassie, who fails to make anything of it from five metres away from goal.
(57) Kruse instigates another attack. This time, he passes to Gnabry, who has a go 13 metres from the net, but Heuer Fernandes is quick to save it.
(74) PENALTY TO WERDER! Gnabry charges energetically into the box and cuts the ball across goal from the byline, where Pizarro is waiting. Sulu then clearly takes his legs out from under him, resulting in a penalty awarded to Bremen.
(75) GOOOOOOAL! 1-0 to SVW, Max Kruse! He calmly sends goalkeeper Heuer Fernandes the wrong way and puts the ball into the left corner. Redemption.
(77) SVD react quickly, as Heller brings the ball down the left flank, and Gondorf gets something onto his cross, but it causes no trouble for Wiedwald.
(87) SVD manager Torsten Frings is throwing everything forward, having brought on attackers Boyd and Schipplock, as well as urging captain Sulu to join the attack.
(90+2) GOOOOOOAL! 2-0 to SVW, Max Kruse! This time around Kruse makes no mistake and puts away Bartels’ great cross. Moments later, the whistle for full-time is blown. A home victory!
Conclusion: The match started off somewhat difficult for Werder. Above all, they had to be physical and fight to stay in the game. Darmstadt 98 were alert, and tried to take advantage of the fact that Bremen were missing a couple of players. Alexander Nouri mentioned the need to be wary of Darmstadt overlapping on the wings, but nonetheless there were six corners and several more dangerous crosses in the first half alone. The difficult 45 minutes were made worse through injuries to Junuzovic and Fritz. It was clear that the hosts had hoped for a lot different. But the start of the second half saw the home-team finally shake off their lethargic approach to the game. They found their tempo and caused trouble for SVD a lot earlier in this half than the last, through creating chances and showing clear attacking intent. In spite of this, it took until the final 15 minutes for Kruse to break the deadlock and then score another, moments before the final whistle.
