Frustration and annoyance dominated the mood at second division club 1. FC Magdeburg after the 3-2 defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf at the end of the first half of the season. For the second time in eleven days, the team from the Elbe city had squandered a lead against Fortuna and ended up empty-handed. As in the cup, when the visitors turned the game around in stoppage time, FCM helped out with massive mistakes of their own. FCM had already led 2-0 through Herbert Bockhorn (17') and Xavier Amaechi (37').
"That's a situation that has affected us more often this season: That we basically play very consistently, but don't do two things well - our own goal chance conversion to make the games clearer, and then defending it away consistently," coach Christian Titz drew a line from the defeat to the entire first half of the season. "However, we must not bury our heads in the sand, but will continue to work on things from January onwards," added the 52-year-old.
Team captain Amara Condé echoed the same sentiment. "You have to reward yourself, it's always the same thing. You come out in the second half, make simple mistakes - you just can't do that in the second division," said the midfielder angrily. "We have to ask ourselves why we can't follow through and finish a game. It often feels like we give the game away to our opponents in the second half." In fact, FCM can also perform well over 90 minutes, as shown against Osnabrück and Kaiserslautern, for example.
