Mike Büskens: The fans played a huge part in our win

Mike Büskens:

It was a very close game. It was tough to find our rhythm in the first half, and we made it easy for Heidenheim to defend against us; we had no deep movement. Our opponents were a class team nonetheless, who have perennially done well in the 2. Bundesliga. I made that clear two days before the game. We profited from Dominick Drexler’s opener a lot: that goal was important.

The second half was a fantastic game with chances for both sides and great moments of play, with a wonderful atmosphere. The fans played a huge part in our win. I’ve known Schalke for 30 years, and the emotions of the club set it apart – the positive energy, the last bit of support you need to get you over the line. No matter if it’s at home or away, we can count on their fantastic support. The fans can sense that we have a group of lads on the pitch who will do their all for the club. We need to keep up this passion for our final five games of the season.

Frank Schmidt:

Congratulations to Buyo and Schalke on the win. When you look at the result it’s pretty tough to take. We were well in the game in the first half, had several chances, passed the ball brilliantly and got into dangerous positions behind the lines a lot, but Martin Fraisl was just always there. Then we failed to defend a corner properly and we got punished.

At half time, the team said that they had to keep going and that we’d get our chance, but after Schalke scored their second we had a bit of bad luck with an offside goal and then Stefan Schimmer had a big chance for us, plus we should’ve had a penalty in the 88th minute. We need to learn not to lose games like these by three goals, simply because it looks bad. As as has happened so often away from home: our opponents have taken their big chances, and we haven’t.

Dominick Drexler:

Mike and his coaching staff set us up brilliantly once again, which pushed our fans on for the full 90 minutes. I had goosebumps even before kick-off when I saw the fans’ tifo. It’s just so great to be able to experience these games in full stadiums. The league table looks good, but the win gives us an even better feeling – nothing’s decided yet, though! The game today was anything but easy; it was important to go into half time with a lead. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how the ball got to me. I think it came off a Heidenheim player. I did get to see Ko Itakura’s goal in full, though – he did brilliantly!

Marius Bülter:

The scoreline was 3-0, yes, but it was a tough bit of work today. All things considered, I think we deserved to win. The first half was definitely difficult against an opponent who set up like we thought they would. After the interval, we created more chances and scored twice. The moments after full time, singing along with the fans and celebrating the win, were fantastic. I’ve still got goosebumps! Moments like these are why we play football. The table doesn’t tell the whole story. Yes, it’s nice to be up there, but that needs to be our inspiration to keep working hard. We’ve got five games to go, and together with our fans we can definitely achieve what we want to.