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‘I miss the cheers’ - Strange celebration for former City striker after fine finish
Former Norwich City striker Dennis Srbeny has scored five goals in 10 games for Paderborn Picture: Moritz Müller/Pool/PA Wire - Credit: Moritz Müller/Pool/PA Wire
He may have made Bundesliga headlines with a beautiful finish but former Norwich City striker Dennis Srbeny admits he couldn’t fully enjoy his latest goal for Paderborn when there were no fans to celebrate with.
The German continued his fine scoring record since leaving the Canaries on a permanent deal reportedly worth around £1million in January, notching his fifth goal in 10 top-flight matches.
His latest game from a terrible defensive lapse, as Hoffenheim defender Ermin Bicakcic didn’t make proper contact with a pass 25 yards from his own goal, but the 26-year-old seized on the unexpected opportunity by superbly curling a shot around the exposed goalkeeper and into the top-right corner.
“I always try to put pressure on the defenders but I couldn’t have imagined that the Bicakcic would put the ball to me like this,” Srbeny said.
“You only think about it for a millisecond. For me, the goalkeeper was a bit far from his line, so I started to shoot immediately.”
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It was a second match behind closed doors for Paderborn since football has returned in Germany.
“I looked at the goal again later, it wasn’t that bad,” Srbeny added, with just a hint of self-deprecation. “I would have loved to celebrate with our fans.
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“Ghost games are vital for the clubs, but I miss the cheers. Football is not possible without fans.”
That early equaliser earned Srbeny’s team a creditable home point against mid-table Hoffenheim, building on a 0-0 draw away to survival rivals Fortuna Dusseldorf, but leaves Paderborn bottom and without a win in eight games.
They are away to 12th placed Augsburg on Wednesday (7.30pm UK time), sitting nine points from safety and six from the survival play-off with seven games to play - facing an immediate return to the second tier.
Speaking to the Westfalen-Blatt newspaper, Srbeny added: “You can usually live with a point against Hoffenheim, who alongside Leverkusen are one of the best teams in the league in the build-up game. The increase over the 0-0 in Dusseldorf was also good. But in our situation, only victories count.”
