FC St. Pauli

An overcast day in Braunschweig, light drizzle and a wet pitch offered perfect conditions for an epic battle at the home of the league leaders. No easy task, to be sure, but then no game will be easy for the rest of the season. Lienen made just one change to the team that started against Stuttgart last time out, Marc Hornschuh coming into central defence in place of the suspended Daniel Buballa, with Yi-Young Park moving across to left-back.

Both teams went out looking for goals from the off. Patrick Schönfeld had the first opportunity of the game in the fourth minute. The Eintracht midfielder ran onto a cutback on the edge of the penalty box and hit the ball first time, but thankfully his effort flew well over Philipp Heerwagen's goal.

The Boys in Brown were fully involved as well. With six minutes gone a ball in from Cenk Sahin was put out for a corner by the Braunschweig defence. Sahin took it himself and found the head of Lasse Sobiech, who planted the ball in the net to give his side the lead. What a start!

In the 14^th minute another Sahin corner caused confusion in the home defence. Eintracht goalkeeper Jasmin Fejzic flapped at a cross, allowing Sobiech to head across goal to Bernd Nehrig, who outjumped a defender, only to see his header fly over the bar. Just five minutes later the hosts really should have levelled when Christoffer Nyman powered his way down the right and crossed to Domi Kumbela on the penalty spot. But with only Heerwagen to beat the striker failed to make proper contact and the ball trundled into the arms of a grateful keeper.

Braunschweig were wide awake now and cranked up the pressure. On 26 minutes Onen Hernandez cut in from the left, skipped past Jeremy Dudziak and unleashed a piledriver. His effort lacked precision, however, and flew well over the top. The next ten minutes were full of high-intensity tackling, with players of both sides ploughing up the turf as they fought for the ball and territorial advantage. Though Torsten Lieberknecht's team had the edge in terms of possession, they were unable to create any chances of note.

With the hosts pushing forward, the Boys in Brown hit back with a superb counterattack on 37. Park linked up with Sobota and Flum to work his way past half the Braunschweig defence and suddenly found himself in the penalty box. The youngster sidestepped another challenge and unleashed a shot, only to be denied by Fejzic when looking certain to score. Almost immediately Mats Møller Dæhli showed great vision to find Sobota, who struck a first-time shot that was blocked by Joseph Baffo at the last moment. The final minutes of a fiery encounter passed off without incident and so Ewald Lienen's side went in at half-time a goal to the good.

The Boys in Brown came out for the second half unchanged, while Phil Ofuso-Ayeh replaced Maximilian Sauer for the home side. The game remained a high-intensity, hard-fought affair. No tackle was shirked and the two sides had plenty to say to each other as well.

With an hour gone Møller Dæhli went down after a hefty challenge in midfield and had to be carried off. He was replaced by Christopher Buchtmann. All the best for a speedy recovery, Mats! Lieberknecht also made a change, introducing Suleimann Abdullahi and Mirko Boland for Kumbela and Schönfeld.

The game never really settled down during this phase. In the 64^th minute Maurice Litka was brought on for Waldemar Sobota and made acquaintance with the Braunschweig turf almost immediately when he was fouled after some good link-up play with Buchtmann. The free-kick came to nothing, however. 

Eintracht upped the pressure again, but the Boys in Brown refused to give an inch and eventually got their reward for a battling performance in the 72^nd minute. A set piece for the home side was cleared and the ball fell to Litka, who at full stretch managed to prod a low pass into the Braunschweig half. Sahin got to the ball before Boland and bore down alone on Fejzic's goal. The Turkey Under-21 international kept his composure, glancing up briefly before sliding the ball through the keeper's legs into the net!  

Despite the two-goal advantage the game was far from over. The home side threw everything forward, but that meant there were also going to be opportunities on the break for Lienen's charges. On 79 minutes Litka drove forward into the penalty area and cut the ball back to Buchtmann, who missed it. Sahin was also on hand, however, and he teed himself up before pulling the trigger. Unfortunately, he lost his footing as he did so. The ball was blocked and bounced back to Thy, whose shot was saved by Fejzic. Had that gone in, it would have been game over.

In the final ten minutes of regulation time nothing much happened. Lienen introduced Richard Neudecker for Sahin in the 90^th minute in an attempt to run down the clock. But the match officials had other ideas and announced seven minutes of time added-on. Suleiman Abdullahi pulled one back with a header in the sixth minute of stoppage time but that mattered not. The Boys in Brown saw out the final seconds to take three crucial points from Braunschweig. Collectively. As a team. All together.

Eintracht Braunschweig

Fejzic – Sauer (Ofuso-Ayeh 46'), Baffo, Decarli, Reichel – Moll, Schönfeld (60' Boland) – Omladic, Hernandez -  Nyman, Kumbela (Abdullahi 60')

Head coach: Torsten Lieberknecht

FC St. Pauli

Heerwagen – Dudziak, Sobiech, Hornschuh, Park – Nehrig, Flum – Sahin (Neudecker 90'), Dæhli (Buchtmann 60'), Sobota (Litka 64') – Thy

Head coach: Ewald Lienen

Goals: 0-1 Sobiech (7'), 0-2 Sahin (72'), 1-2 Abdullahi (90+6)

Yellow cards: Omladic, Reichel, Nyman, Schönfeld, Boland - Sobota, Sobiech, Flum, Sahin

Referee: Christian Dietz (Kronach)

Attendance: 22,775

Photos: Witters