Gelsenkirchen to watch their team lose 4-0 at Schalke 04, the Bundesliga club said on Saturday.

“By refunding the cost of admission for their supporters, the red and whites would like to apologise for the pitiful performance which they displayed at the Veltins Arena,” explained the club in a press release entitled “Sorry”.

Roughly 600 fans travelled from Cottbus, in east Germany near the Polish border, on Friday night to Gelsenkirchen – a journey of some 610 kilometres – to see their team suffer their sixth defeat in their last seven league games.

Cottbus are second from bottom of the Bundesliga table and are in danger of being relegated at the end of the season.

“We lost at Schalke, but we were very timid against our opponents,” said Cottbus manager Steffen Heidrich.