Deniz Mehmet gave a good account of himself despite a 3-0 defeat to St Pauli in the first pre-season friendly of the 2023/24 season.
The keeper made a string of saves throughout the 90 minutes, including an impressive second-half double save.
Mehmet’s double save:
Earlier he had raced from his goalline to save at the feet of the pacey Benny Winter who had been put through on goal.
Mehmet was pleased with the Pars’ efforts given the lengthy gap since the last time they took to the field.
Setting the bar high
“The beginning of May was our last game of the season but you get what you can get out of it and it definitely was a fitness thing,” he said.
“We set the bar high for pre-season with that one to kick off.
“It is nice to make some saves but they were a good side and you could see that by the way they moved the ball about, especially in the second half when the rain started coming down.
“We were saying ‘the pitch is dry it needs to rain a little bit’ but looking back on it the rain is the worst thing that could have happened.”
Fitness exercise
St Pauli were afforded the luxury of changing 10 of their players at half-time.
The Pars, meanwhile, were forced to give 90 minutes to several players, which took its toll.
“At times they banked in, I expected that coming against a team that we knew were a good side,” said Mehmet.
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“They are a decent team in Germany so it was always going to be a tough evening but the boys got what they needed out of it definitely.”
Keeper praise
Manager James McPake didn’t want to single out anyone but praised the calming presence he has on the team.
He said he got what he wanted from the friendly and added that he is no longer surprised by the keeper’s saves.
“He has done that since the day I walked in the door,” said the Pars boss.
“He is that reliable and he is that calm as well. He makes saves under pressure, he makes saves when he shouldn’t.
“We needed him tonight or it could have got embarrassing to say the least.
“Deniz has been great but I think everybody deserves credit tonight.”
