week 26 - match report

Farfan sets Schalke on road to victory

New men in charge - new luck? Not quite, because Schalke's 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld was hard-earned and the product of some fine football. The goals may have come at the end of each half, but the Royal Blues showed an iron determination to take all three points from Bielefeld for the entire 90 minutes.

Bielefeld was the not the worst place to start for the new coaching trio of Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck. Arminia hadn't beaten the Royal Blues in ten games and hadn't even scored in the last four. And yet the odds seemed to favour the home side as Schalke were forced to rejig their central defence.

Benedikt Höwedes was laid low by an infection and was unable to travel, while skipper Mladen Krstajic had a bruised pelvis and started on the bench. Heiko Westermann and Marcelo Bordon formed the new pairing, and Jermaine Jones took the captain's armband for the first time.

Both teams got off to a lively start, with Arminia playing in a manner that belied their 15th position in the league table. Büskens had warned his players about the compactness of the Bielefeld defence and the threat posed by their rapid counterattacking style, but on occasions his words went unheard. "We let too many counterattacks get through early on", he criticised. But he also expressed understanding, saying: "Perhaps the lads were trying too hard. After the events of recent weeks it isn't easy to turn things round just like that."

All the better, then, that Jefferson Farfan laid down a marker at a psychologically important time. His opening goal just before the break proved a telling blow for Arminia, as their coach Michael Frontzeck readily admitted. "Against a top team like Schalke we can't play much better than we did in the first half. The goal gave them more assurance and confidence."

Within seconds of the restart Kevin Kuranyi headed against the Bielefeld bar and with that laid down another marker. The Royal Blues were not about to sit on their lead, they were determined to extend it as soon as possible. It was they who now waited for a chance to counter, but without setting up camp in their own half. "We saw the game out very well", said Büskens in praise of his players. "Halil spread the ball around nicely behind the front men and we could have got the second much earlier." The killer goal did not arrive until stoppage time, when Kuranyi capped the final counterattack of the game with a textbook finish from Jones's pass to make it 2-0.

After the game Michael Frontzeck was reluctant to criticise his team despite a number of missed chances. He said: "We haven't stolen our 24 points, we've earned them. It's just a shame we weren't rewarded for our efforts in the last two home games." Mike Büskens in turn was "delighted with the three points" and by the fact that Schalke had played some very good football, especially in the second half. "It was simply important for us to win the game. There are a few virtues that speak for Schalke 04. We showed them today, as we have in the past."

Bielefeld: Eilhoff - Bollmann, Mijatovic, Herzig, Schuler - Kauf, Marx (Sadik 81') - Tesche (Janjic 67'), Katongo, Munteanu (Halfar 78') – Wichniarek
Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon (Krstajic 78'), Westermann, Pander - Jones, Kobiashvili - Altintop - Farfan (Engelaar 90' +2), Kuranyi, Sanchez (Rakitic 84)Referee: Seemann (Essen)
Goals: 0-1 Farfan (45'), 0-2 Kuranyi (90'+3)
Attendance: 27,300
Yellow cards: Schuler (5/2), Bollmann (5/1) - Rafinha (10)