1. FC Union Berlin draw 1-1 with Arminia Bielefeld
Mees scores:
1. FC Union Berlin were held to a 1-1 draw against Arminia Bielefeld at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
Joshua Mees returned to the side and scored the opener after 23 minutes to give Urs Fischer's side a lead at the turnaround. But Bielefeld fought back after the restart and Jonathan Clauss levelled the scores early into the second half.
1. FC Union Berlin: Gikiewicz; Trimmel, Hübner, Friedrich, Reichel; Schmiedebach, Prömel (Kroos 83), Zulj; Mees (Abdullahi 65), Andersson, Hartel (Gogia 74)
DSC Arminia Bielefeld: Ortega; Clauss, Behrendt, Salger, Hartherz; Seufert (Christiansen 90), Prietl; Voglsammer, Yabo (Pieper 90), Edmundsson (Staude 85); Klos
Goalscorer Mees was installed into the starting XI, playing wide of the attacking front three in place of Carlos Mane. Though the early passages of the game saw little in the way of scoring chances, Union played a few dangerous combinations around the Bielefeld box. The duo of Sebastian Andersson and Robert Zulj proved difficult for Bielefeld’s central defenders to deal with. On 23 minutes, Fischer’s men got their just rewards, albeit in rather conventional fashion. The 22-year-old Mees, whose first header was parried out before he turned in the rebound, met Ken Reichel’s brilliant inswinging cross. Florian Hübner headed over from close range after 30 minutes and the central defender turned creator but Grischa Prömel’s effort was kept out by Bielefeld’s Stefan Ortega.
The man in the opposite dugout, Uwe Neuhaus, is a well-known figure around Köpenick having spent seven years as the head coach of Union — he is the longest-serving boss in the club's history. Neuhaus will have been the happier of the coaches as Bielefeld dug their way back into the match. Andreas Voglsammer struck the woodwork, getting on to the rebound from Clauss' strike which was well-saved by Rafal Gikiewicz. Clauss, the right-back from the visitors, reacted quickest in the 61st minute to equalise from close range. Fischer brought on Suleiman Abdullahi, Akaki Gogia and Felix Kroos in the hunt for a winner, but the home side couldn't find the cutting edge towards the end.
Head coach Fischer said post-match: "I think that we could and should have led by more in the first half after several opportunities. We won a lot of second balls and unfortunately also some possession mistakes that we had to work on. Then it was a weak second half: no second balls, many mistakes, which was also due to the improvement of Bielefeld. In the second half we were lucky several times, Bielefeld could have taken the lead. Today you have to be satisfied with one point."
