FC St. Pauli

It had been 22 weeks since the last home win at the Millerntor. The target for the visit of Dynamo Dresden on matchday 20 was thus clear – another three points were to follow last week's victory at Braunschweig. Head coach Ewald Lienen made three changes to the starting lineup, Kyoungrok Choi coming into the side for Mats Møller Dæhli, who was ruled out by a calf strain, along with Daniel Buballa (back from suspension) and Aziz Bouhaddouz (back from illness). Yi-Young Park and Lennart Thy dropped to the bench.

The two sides felt each other out in the opening stages, with the first attacking move of note coming from the visitors. Fabian Müller and Marvin Stefaniak combined on the right, but Stefaniak's ball in found no takers in yellow and black. After a break in the play for treatment to Bernd Nehrig, who was injured in a collision with Marco Hauptmann, Kyoungrok Choi broke down the right, only to be brought down by Hauptmann. Cenk Sahin floated the free-kick in towards Bouhaddouz, but the visitors were able to clear without any problems. And with both sides adopting a cautious approach, chances from open play remained a rarity.

The first flowing move of the game arrived after a quarter of an hour when Jeremy Dudziak, Waldemar Sobota and the lively Choi linked up to feed Johannes Flum, whose final ball failed to reach the intended target. In the 17^th minute Flum dispatched another cross into the Dresden box that was eventually cleared. The Boys in Brown slowly began to gain the upper hand and create some initial chances. Lasse Sobiech found Aziz Bouhaddouz with a long ball after 20 minutes, but he was denied by Dresden goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe. Almost immediately Marc Hornschuh had to step in to clear for a corner that was safely gathered by Philip Heerwagen. At the other end the Boys in Brown were awarded a free-kick near the corner of the box. Flum's cross again found no takers, however.

The biggest chance of the game to that point was squandered by Bernd Nehrig on 27 minutes when the visitors failed to clear their lines from another corner. The midfielder charged into the box and directed a shot just over the Dresden crossbar. Two minutes later, however, Kyoungrok Choi went one better. The South Korean latched onto an underhit backpass and pulled the trigger from the edge of the box to send the home crowd into a frenzy. A goal to the good, Ewald Lienen's side were content to sit back and wait for an opportunity to break, as in the 34^th minute when Cenk Sahin won possession in midfield, set off on a run and was brought down by Philip Heise, who was promptly shown the yellow card by referee Dennis Aytekin. The free-kick came to nothing, however. Dresden then forced a corner from which Lasse Sobiech and Florian Ballas went down injured after a collision. While the St. Pauli captain was able to continue after treatment, Ballas hobbled off to be replaced by Jannik Müller with 39 minutes gone.

The closing stages of the first half were ushered in by a mistake by the Boys in Brown after they were awarded a free-kick in their own half for a foul on Nehrig. Sobota took it quickly, only to hit the ball straight to an opponent, leaving Nehrig no choice but to make a tactical foul that earned him a booking. Another misunderstanding in the home defence presented the visitors with another corner. Lienen's charges remained alert to the danger, however, and went in at half-time protecting a 1-0 lead.

Kyoungrok Choi and Marco Hartmann challenge for the ball.

Lienen made two changes during the interval, introducing Lennart Thy and Christopher Buchtmann for Choi and Nehrig. The second period began with more momentum than the first and the Boys in Brown in the ascendancy. Sahin wasted the first chance of the half on 51 but made no such mistake eight minutes later. Sobota stole the ball in the corner and knocked it to Bouhaddouz, who fed Sahin and he found the corner of the net to make it 2-0. The visitors responded with some spirited attacks of their own but were unable to create any meaningful chances. That opened up spaces for quick counterattacks, as in the 65^th minute when Dudziak and Sahin played their way through, only to be stopped at the last second by the Dresden defence. At the other end Heise pinged a shot over the crossbar after Heerwagen had punched a corner clear.

Dresden continued to probe in the final 20 minutes without ever coming close to reducing the arrears. The home side, for their part, had two opportunities to put the game to bed. First, Thy hit a shot into the side netting on 73, and then, five minutes later, Sobota saw a powerful shot strike Thy and deflect out for a goal-kick. In the closing stages Dresden pushed forward again but the home defence, ably marshalled by Lasse Sobiech and Marc Hornschuh, was not be breached and it ended in a deserved 2-0 victory for the Boys in Brown.

FC St. Pauli

Heerwagen – Dudziak, Sobiech, Hornschuh, Buballa – Nehrig (Buchtmann 46'), Flum – Sahin, Choi (Thy 46'), Sobota – Bouhaddouz (Gonther 63')

Head coach: Ewald Lienen

Dynamo Dresden

Schwäbe – Modica, Hartmann, Stefaniak, Heise, Lambertz (Testroet 52'), F. Müller, Ballas (J. Müller 38'), Kutschke, Hauptmann (Aosman 70'), Berko

Head coach: Uwe Neuhaus

Goals: 1-0 Choi (28'); 2-0 Sahin (59')

Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Nürnberg)

Attendance: 29,546 (sold out)

Photos: Witters