week 19 - match report

Höwedes heads Schalke to 1-0 win over Werder

A win against Werder Bremen was all that mattered – regardless of how it came about. That the Royal Blues failed to create as many chances as they did in Hannover was ultimately less significant than the fact that they took their best chance with both hands.

The matchwinner was Benedikt Höwedes, who not only notched the golden goal in the 48th minute, but also deflected a Hugo Almeida blockbuster over his own crossbar just before the end. Schalke may have got there in the end, but it was a bumpy ride.

Fred Rutten made one change to the side that ran out in Hannover last week, Jermaine Jones returning to the midfield after sitting out a one-match ban. Werder coach Thomas Schaaf was without the suspended Diego and Claudio Pizarro.

In the first half it seemed as if both Schalke and Bremen were struggling under the weight of their respective league positions (ninth and tenth). Even after a quarter of an hour of feeling each other out, neither side was able to put together a move of note, never mind find a clear sight at goal.

Not until the 29th minute did Werder striker Markus Rosenberg test Manuel Neuer with a low drive from just inside the box. But the Schalke keeper safely gathered the ball before it could cross the line. Three minutes later Ivan Rakitic skipped past two Bremen defenders on the left-hand edge of the Werder penalty area to unleash a shot that Tim Wiese just about managed to fist round the near post.

It may be something of a cliché, but the game was crying out for a goal, and Benedikt Höwedes promptly delivered three minutes after the interval when he headed home a Farfan free-kick to put Schalke in front. A goal he had predicted beforehand, joked Höwedes afterwards: "I'd already missed a cross from Jeff in the first half. So I told him he should put another one in – and that was that."

Both sides noticeably stepped up a gear after the opening goal, with the visitors enjoying the lion's share of the chances. But Manuel Neuer defused efforts from Rosenberg on 54 and Naldo a quarter of an hour after that before Höwedes threw himself into the path of Almeida's shot in the closing stages to deflect the ball over bar.

"We worked very hard but simply couldn't score", a disappointed Thomas Schaaf said after the Royal Blues had secured the win. "Schalke only had one clear-cut opportunity, but they took it."

Rutten said: "In the second half we perhaps enjoyed that little bit of luck you need. But we haven't had any just recently, so it was a very important win today." The Dutchman was particularly pleased with what he called a team performance: "Each player did his job and was on hand if someone else made a mistake. The team worked for this win."

Jermaine Jones picked up his fifth yellow card, however, and will again have to watch from the stands when Schalke travel to VfL Bochum next Saturday.

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Höwedes, Bordon, Westermann - Jones, Kobiashvili - Rakitic (Engelaar 60') - Farfan (Sanchez 83'), Altintop (Kuranyi 46'), Asamoah
Bremen: Wiese - Fritz, Mertesacker, Naldo (Niemeyer 74'), Boenisch (Pasanen 65') - Baumann - Frings, Tziolis - Özil - Almeida, Rosenberg (Harnik 83')
Goal: 1-0 Höwedes (48')
Referee: Dr Drees (Mainz)
Attendance: 61,673 (sold out)
Yellow cards: Kobiashvili, Jones (5), Westermann (2) - Boenisch (3)