Lee brace leads Mainz to comfortable win against Darmstadt

1. FSV Mainz 05’s clash against Darmstadt 98 at the MEWA ARENA was straightforward for Bo Henriksen’s side. The hosts came away with a deserved 4-0 win following a dominant second half performance. Andreas Hanche-Olsen opened the scoring before the break, whilst Brajan Gruda and Jae-sung Lee, who scored Mainz’s last two goals, extended the 05ers’ lead in the second half.

Bo Henriksen made three changes from the draw in Leipzig, with Dominik Kohr (one-game suspension served), Lee and Gruda coming into the side in place of Josuha Guilavogui, Karim Onisiwo and Ludovic Ajorque.

Hanche-Olsen opens the scoring

An electric atmosphere had already developed at the MEWA ARENA long before kick-off, and the noise only increased once the game was underway. The 05ers took control of the game immediately and had their first opportunity after around three minutes when a low corner from Nadiem Amiri found its way through the six-yard area, but Kohr wasn’t able to apply the finishing touch (4’). The 05ers were back on the attack two minutes later when Jonny Burkardt latched onto a pass from Gruda and got the better of Thomas Isherwood, but he was denied by a crucial reflex save from Marcel Schuhen (6’). The visitors countered for the first time following the subsequent corner as Braydon Manu played Mathias Honsak in behind, but he wasn’t able to get a shot off as Robin Zentner showed good anticipation and got to the ball first 25 yards out from goal (7’). The pace of the game was relentless and it was once again FSV who went close to taking the lead two minutes later. Gruda broke from midfield with pace and played the ball to Anthony Caci, but Jae-sung Lee failed to hit the target with his first-time effort from the Frenchman’s cross (10’). Whilst Darmstadt threatened at times during the opening stages, FSV were the more purposeful side and enjoyed over 60% possession. Schuhen’s clearance then went straight to Gruda in the 16th minute, and Gruda took aim from the edge of the box, but his near post effort was easily saved by the goalkeeper (16’).

The game slowed down a bit following an action-packed opening phase of the game, but it remained intense and hard fought. Amiri looked to find the top corner with a free kick from 18 yards after half an hour, but his strike went just over the bar after Gruda had been fouled. However, Mainz were to take the lead from their next set piece. Amiri sent the ball into the box, where Lee squared the ball to Hanche-Olsen in unorthodox fashion, and the Norwegian was left with a simple finish from a yard out to make it 1-0 (32’). The 05ers deserved to be ahead, but there was still plenty of work left to do to secure three points. Mainz’s lead wasn’t threatened before the break as Bo Henriksen’s side not only continued to carve out opportunities in attack, but also didn’t concede many chances in defence in the first 45 minutes.

FSV extend their lead

SVD head coach Torsten Lieberknecht made two changes at the start of the second half and brought on two former 05ers in the form of Gerrit Holtmann and Aaron Seydel for Isherwood and Manu in an attacking move. However, the hosts had the first chance of the half once again as they went close following a throw-in. Gruda flicked the ball in the direction of Lee using his chest after combining effectively with Amiri, but the South Korean shot straight at Schuhen, before the goalkeeper made himself big to keep out Gruda’s follow-up effort (50’). Henriksen reacted shortly afterwards and replaced Kohr with Edimilson, who was shown a yellow card almost immediately (53’). The 05ers then were the beneficiaries of a misplaced back pass from Bartol Franjics as they doubled their lead after exactly an hour. Burkardt pinched the ball off Schuhen and reacted quickly to set the ball back to Gruda, whose powerful strike from ten yards went in just below the crossbar (60’). It was the academy graduate’s first Bundesliga goal at home. The game picked up pace again following Mainz’s second goal. First, Amiri failed to take the chance to make it 3-0 following a counterattack and neat interplay with the goalscorer as his effort went inches wide of the right post (65’). Tim Skarke found himself one-on-one with Zentner at the other end of the pitch in the immediate aftermath, but he shot well wide (65’). The visitors continued to cling on to their hopes of finding a way back into the game as Phillipp Mwene shot straight at Schuhen from a tight angle a minute later. 

However, the visitors rarely threatened in the closing stages of the game despite their attacking intentions. Silvan Widmer and Tom Krauß came on to provide fresh legs for the last 15 minutes for the 05ers as Caci and Gruda were replaced. Burkardt had missed a huge chance to wrap things up shortly beforehand when he attempted a bicycle kick in the box, but he failed to connect with the ball (73’). Lee then extended Mainz’s lead in the 80th minute as he turned home Widmer’s perfect cross with a neat finish on the angle. The South Korean made sure of the result for his side, but the 05ers were still to add to their tally. The recently introduced Krauß squared the ball to Lee at the edge of the penalty area four minutes later, and he grabbed his second goal of the game with a curling effort from 16 yards. That was the last noteworthy action of the game at the MEWA ARENA, where the hosts were able to celebrate their biggest win of the season shortly afterwards. FSV are now up to 23 points from 28 games thanks to their second consecutive home win and they are back in action at home in exactly a week against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

MAINZ 05 4-0 DARMSTADT 98 

FSV: Zentner - Caci (75’ Widmer), Hanche-Olsen, van den Berg, Kohr (53’ Edimilson), Mwene (86’ Ajorque) - Barreiro (86’ Guilavogui), Amiri - Lee, Gruda (75’ Krauß), Burkardt
Darmstadt: Schuhen - Bader (75’ Bader), Klarer, Isherwood (46’ Holtmann), Holland - Justvan (75’ Riedel), Franjic, Manu (46’ Seydel), Honsak - Skarke, Vilhelmsson

Goals: 1-0 Hanche-Olsen (32’), 2-0 Gruda (60’), 3-0 Lee (80’), 4-0 Lee (84’)

Attendance: 33,000
Referee: Daniel Schlager (Sven Waschitzki-Günther, Arno Blos, Arne Aarnink, Tobias Reichel)