Cologne vs Mainz preview - Stoger out to bring seasonal joy

Posted Tuesday, December 16, 2014 by PA

Cologne coach Peter Stoger wants his side to put on a show for the fans when his side host Mainz on Tuesday night.

The match will be the Goats' last home game of the year and,on the back of the 2-1 win at Schalke at the weekend, Stoger is keen to give the supporters a winning send-off ahead of the winter break.

"We're certainly not planning on just sitting on our win over Schalke," said the Austrian coach. "We want to go into the second half of the season in the best position possible.

"There are still six points to play for and we hope to be able to give our fans some joy in our own stadium."

That is something they have struggled to do since returning to the top flight of German football, with just one win so far from their seven matches on home soil.

"Our recent home matches haven't been very satisfactory, but we did still show we had ideas against Hertha Berlin and Augsburg, even if we didn't bring them to fruition," added Stoger.

"It's not the case that we would prefer to play in Mainz. We look forward to every one of our home games."

Opponents Mainz are without a win in almost two months.

They have gone close enough, taking a 1-0 lead in each of their last three matches only to fail to hold on for maximum points.

"We've just been lacking the final ball and the only thing we can accuse ourselves of is failing to make it 2-0 in those matches," coach Kasper Hjulmand told a press conference.

"We're working hard to fight this."

Hjulmand is without Koo Ja-cheol, Christoph Moritz, Julian Baumgartlinger, Jonas Hofmann and Niko Bungert.