Bremen caught cold, but recover
Mainz - Werder Bremen recovered from an early setback to snatch a point from their visit to FSV Mainz 05.
Positive reaction
The sound of the referee’s opening whistle was still ringing around the Coface Arena when the ball first hit the back of the net. Just 12 and a half seconds was all Adam Szalai needed to score the season's quickest goal - the fourth-fastest in Bundesliga history - and send the home fans into raptures.
Stunned but not defeated, Bremen defied their poor recent form with a positive response, hitting the woodwork through Nils Petersen early in the second half.
It was the prelude to some strong pressure from the northerners. Petersen and Aaron Hunt were leading their assault on the Mainz goal but when Marko Arnautovic was sent on by Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf to add more weight to his side’s attack, the Austrian almost instantly set up the equaliser for Hunt to keep Werder at least three games away from a place in the bottom three.
Line-ups and statistics
