By Callum McFadden at the Mewa Arena.
Mainz 4-0 Darmstadt
Hanche-Olsen, 32
Gruda, 60
Jae-Sung, 80, 84
Mainz moved nine points clear of bottom-placed Darmstadt with a crucial win at the MEWA arena.
Bo Henriksen’s side dominated possession from kick-off and did not have to wait long for their first clear-cut opportunity.
That came in the fifth minute when Nadiem Amiri played Jonathan Burkardt in behind the Darmstadt defence only to be denied by a crucial save from Marcel Schuhen.
The away carried a threat on the counterattack and could have opened the scoring themselves only a couple of minutes later. Manu showed great pace to break away into the Mainz half before attempting a through ball to Mathias Honsak who could not get there before Robin Zentner in the Mainz goal.
Mainz played the ball through the thirds with ease in the first half but just came up short when trying to find the breakthrough in the opening thirty minutes.
Mainz’s luck changed in the thirty-third minute when an Amiri cross from a free kick was headed across goal by Lee Jae-Sung into the path of centre-back Andreas Hanche-Olsen who duly converted from close range.
The home side pushed for a second goal, but nothing was forthcoming before halftime.
The visitors made two changes at halftime to try and turn the tide of the game. Manu and Thomas Isherwood made way for Gerrit Holtmann and Aaron Seydel.
Frankly, the substitutions were not able to give Darmstadt a fresh impetus and the second half started with Mainz dominating possession.
Burkardt came close to doubling their lead in the fifty-second minute with an audacious overhead kick that he could not connect with in the manner that he would have hoped to.
Consequently, Mainz did not have to wait much longer for their second goal, as right on the hour mark, a sloppy backpass from Bartol Franjic was intercepted by Burkardt who squared the ball to Brajan Gruda to smash an effort into the top right-hand corner of Schuhen’s net.
Jae Sung added a third goal to secure a comfortable victory for Mainz when he got on the end of substitute Silvan Widmer’s driven cross from the right-hand touchline.
His day got even better when he scored his second of the game and a fourth for Mainz with a low, driven effort that Schuhen barely moved for.
Victory was much needed for the home side given the fact that both teams were in the bottom three of the Bundesliga, albeit Mainz now move nine points clear of bottom-placed Darmstadt.
This game marked their Head Coach Bo Henriksen’s seventh game in charge, and this was his third win. With results like this, Mainz certainly look like being a team on the up with the Dane at the helm.
WFi player of the match: Lee Jae-Sung (Mainz) – His late brace put the game beyond any doubt to seal a crucial three points for the home side.
Mainz: Zentner, Hanche-Olsen, van den Berg, Kohr (Fernandes, 53), Mwene (Ajorque, 85), Amiri, Barreiro (Guilavogui, 85), Caci (Widmer, 75), Lee, Gruda (Krauß, 75), Burkardt
Substitutes: Rieß, Widmer, Fernandes, Guilavogui, Krauß, Papela, Ajorque, Ngankam, Onisiwo
Darmstadt: Schuhen, Holland (Karic, 75) Isherwood (Holtmann, 46) Klarer, Bader (Polter, 75), Franjić, Honsak, Justvan (Riedel, 75), Manu (Seydel, 46), Skarke, Vilhelmsson
Substitutes: Brunst, Karic, Müller, Riedel, Zimmermann, Kempe, Holtmann, Polter, Seydel
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