Defeat in Mainz

Tayfun Korkut made one change from the win against Bielefeld last time out. In place of Marco Richter, Lucas Tousart came into the centre of the park. Maximilian Mittelstädt returned to the squad following a cold, but Márton Dárdai continued to miss out. The hosts, in strong form at home with only one defeat in their last eight, set up with the same squad as their defeat in Munich.

An evenly-matched opening quarter of an hour saw half-chances for both sides. Jae-Sung Lee’s effort caused no problems for Alexander Schwolow, and Stevan Jovetić shot wide from an acute angle (13’, 14’). From that point, Bo Svensson’s side took control, and were promptly rewarded. A Moussa Niakhaté cross was headed back across goal by Silvan Widmer, and it was an easy task for Lee to nod home in acres of space to make it 1-0 (19’). Widmer then went close himself four minutes later with a rebound (23’). The Blue-Whites did not fight and tackle in the way they did last time out, and the team found build-up play difficult due to the Zerofivers’ compact setup. A cross from the right was narrowly missed by Leandro Barreiro (30’), before head coach Korkut was forced into an early change. Jovetić had to come off with a calf injury and was replaced by Davie Selke (32’). Four minutes after coming on, Selke had our best chance of the first half, heading narrowly over from a Marvin Plattenhardt cross (36’). The majority of the 10,000 fans in the MEWA ARENA celebrated a second time, as a corner came out to Alexander Hack, who drove into the bottom corner with the help of a deflection from Lucas Tousart for 2-0 (41’). Two minutes later, Selke testes FSV goalkeeper Zentner, who easily dealt with our number 7’s header.

Prince Boateng and Richter came in for Deyovaisio Zeefuik and Tousart at half time, with Darida taking the right-back role. Four minutes later, any chance of a comeback was ended: Widmer was left with the freedom of the penalty area to head past Schwolow from close range (49’). Injury was then added to insult for Hertha, with Suat Serdar unable to continue after suffering a knee injury in the first half – he was replaced by Myziane Maolida (56’). A foul from Niklas Stark on Karim Onisiwo on the very edge of the area was put into the side netting by Aaron (61’). Schwolow was then called into action with two fine saves from substitute Ingvartsen and Aaron (66’, 72’). Krzysztof Piątek for Belfodil was the next change made by Korkut, but it made no difference to the course of the game. Boëtius fired into the top corner from range to make it 4-0 ten minutes from time. Stöger also hit the bar late on with an audacious effort (90’). In the end, it was a heavy defeat in the final away game of the year.

FSV Mainz 05: Zentner; Bell, Hack, Niakhaté (C); Widmer (74‘ Brosinski), Barreiro (76‘ Stöger), Lee (62‘ Boëtius), Stach, Aarón; Onisiwo (62’ Ingvartsen), Burkardt (74’ Nebel)

Hertha BSC: Schwolow; Zeefuik (46’ Richter), Boyata (C), Stark, Plattenhardt; Darida, Ascacíbar, Tousart (46’ Prince), Serdar (56’ Myziane) - Belfodil (69’ Piątek), Jovetić (32’ Selke)

Goals: 1-0 Lee (19’), 2-0 Hack (41’), 3-0 Widmer (49’), 4-0 Boëtius (80’)

Referee: Harm Osmers

Yellow cards: Serdar, Stark

Attendance: 10,000