Berlin - "We are not going to Augsburg to just look good, we are going there to win!", said Hertha head coach Pál Dárdai ahead of the Bundesliga matchday 1 trip. His team heard his words and duly won 1-0 through a Salomon Kalou spot kick early in the second half. Kalou won the penalty himself. With their large contingent of travelling fans behind them the capital city side left us wanting more!



The visitors looked particulary good in the first half. The ball flowed well between their ranks and they created some good scoring chances. The match stats after the game revealed that Hertha had 52% possession over the ninety minutes. Add to that a passing success rate of 87% it is plain to see that the Berliners were well worth their three point booty in augsburg: "We played in a controlled manner for an away game before the break. We had a good amount of possession", confirmed Dardai afterwards. He want on to decribe it as a "man's" victory, after his players threw themselves into every challenge. The fact that Dutch winger Roy Beerens was sent off for a second yellow card was unfou´rtunate, but also underlined the (mostly) controlled aggression displayed by the visitors. Passion and determination won the day for Dardai and Co. in Augsburg.



Top fit with a top keeper



"We showed today that we have taken a step in the right direction. We can build on this performance", said central defender Sebastian Langkamp after the game against his former club. The 1,90m tall defender n several occasions during the match and was one of the cornerstones in his team. Skipper Fabian Lustenberger told us in the mixed zone after full time: "We worked our socks off for six weeks during pre-season under our fitness coach Henrik Kuchno who deserves a lot of praise for his efforts. Everyone saw today how fit we are." Lustenberger had an impressive record of 91% of won tackles.



Augsburg threw everything forward during the latter stages of the game.Problem for them was: Not only Langkamp and Co's they shall not pass stance, but also the superb early form of Berlin stopper Thomas Kraft, who secured all three points with a string of top drawer saves: "You need a good goalkeeper to win in the Bundesliga and Thomas was superb heretoday", enthused Per Skjelbred after the game.



So it was a perfect start to the season and three points are on the board. That performance in Augsburg left us wanting more! Maybe there will be more of the same on Friday night(21.08.15, 8.30 pm), when the capital city side entertain Werder Bremen under the floodlights at the Olympic stadium on matchday 2.