SC Freiburg 2 - 3 Mainz: Mainz hold on to sink Freiburg

Posted Sunday, April 19, 2015 by PA

Freiburg's comeback fell short as they went down 3-2 at home to Mainz on Saturday.

Two goals from Shinji Okazaki gave Mainz an advantage at the break, but Admir Mehmedi gave Freiburg hope with just under 10 minutes left.

Yunus Malli restored Mainz's two-goal cushion three minutes later and it proved to be a crucial goal as Jonathan Schmid's effort at the death for Freiburg was too little too late.

Freiburg showed the confidence they had gained from picking up seven points from their last three games as they got at Mainz early on, creating a hatful of good chances.

Mehmedi had only Loris Karius to beat in the 10th minute, but the Mainz goalkeeper won that battle.

He was beaten in the 18th minute, but the crossbar came to his rescue to keep out Christian Gunter's shot.

Freiburg continued to attack and it seemed to be only a matter of time before the first goal would come, although the shock was that it arrived at the other end.

A long ball sent Jairo free down the right and his cross was met at the far post by Okazaki, who sent the ball back across Roman Burki into the opposite corner.

A second followed before the interval. Jairo saw his shot deflected off a post and following the resulting corner Nikolce Noveski's error Okazaki to add his and Mainz's second.

Freiburg continued to dominate proceedings, but it was not until the 81st minute that they managed to pull a goal back.

Mehmedi left Karius no chance with his shot into the far corner.

That gave the home fans renewed hope, but, as Freiburg pushed for an equaliser, they conceded a third, with Malli heading in Daniel Brosinski's cross in the 84th minute.

Freiburg still refused to lie down and, as the game entered stoppage-time, they reduced the arrears once again, with Schmid scoring from Nils Petersen's pass.

But there was no time left for them to grab what would have been a more than deserved equaliser, but there was some consolation in that both Hannover and Paderborn below them also lost.