Werder Boss Commends Troops Despite Derby Defeat

Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf was philosophical after his side came out on the short end of the season's first Nord Derby.

23 Nov 2008 20:07:43

Thomas Schaaf Coach of Werder Bremen (AFP)

Teams

Ivica Olic handed Hamburg a 2-1 victory over Werder Bremen with a phenomenal strike late in the game. The zippy Croatian fired an inch-perfect, long-range effort off the inside of the post and into Tim Wiese's net with just 15 minutes remaining in the match.

"The result was not we wanted of course, but I thought our performance was actually very good," insisted Schaaf.

"We can use this defeat as motivation and just have to keep up the levels and the results will come.

"Olic's winner was a sensational shot, a dream goal unfortunately from our perspective. That said, we should have closed him down sooner."

With Sunday's win, Bremen mired in midtable on 20 points, while Hamburg move up to fifth place in the Bundesliga, with 26 points from 14 matches.

Derek Wanner, Goal.com