FC St. Pauli

Ewald Lienen made two changes to the team for the crucial six-pointer against Karlsruhe. Captain Sören Gonther came in for Lasse Sobiech, who was unable to train fully during the week due to illness, while Mats Møller Dæhli returned to the side in place of Johannes Flum, who was handed a well-earned breather after a busy schedule in recent weeks.

The Boys in Brown made a very bright start, fashioning a string of chances in the opening stages. Møller Dæhli gave notice of their intent in the third minute with a shot that flew just over the crossbar. Marc Hornschuh directed a header into the arms of Dirk Orlishausen from a corner two minutes later and then headed wide from a Cenk Sahin free-kick on 11. The opening goal seemed imminent and sure enough it arrived in the 12^th minute when Sahin broke clear down the right and curled a shot against the inside of the far post, where Møller Dæhli was on hand to tap home from close range.

Karlsruhe threatened for the first time after 17 minutes when Moritz Stoppelkamp hit a smart shot on the turn that Philipp Heerwagen pushed past the post for a corner. The Boys in Brown retained control of the game, however, and continued to impress as they went in search of a second goal. Some lovely moves were put together and often it was only the final ball that was lacking. Yet the biggest chance in this phase fell to the visitors, and Heerwagen had to produce a brilliant stop to keep out a Bjarne Thoelke header from a 36^th minute corner.

Apart from that effort Karlsruhe had few ideas and never really looked like they could force an equaliser. Lienen's side, on the other hand, passed their way forward at will and almost doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time. Møller Dæhli conjured up a delightful backheel to tee up Aziz Bouhaddouz, who stung the hands of Orlishausen with a piledriver from the edge of the box. That was the last action of the first 45 and the Boys in Brown went in at the break with a deserved 1-0 lead.

The Boys in Brown dominated the first half and deserved their 1-0 lead at the break thanks to Mats Møller Dæhli's 12th minute strike.

The pattern remained much the same in the second half. Lienen's charges hit the ground running and put the visitors under extensive pressure. Just 60 seconds in Christopher Buchtmann found Bouhaddouz with a whipped-in cross and Orlishausen diverted his powerful header against the crossbar. There was nothing the keeper could do a few minutes later, however, when Sahin knocked the ball across the face of the goal. Orlishausen could only palm out to Waldemar Sobota, who had no trouble netting from close range.

Karlsruhe were left dazed by the onslaught and the buoyant Boys in Brown extended their lead two minutes later when Bouhaddouz was perfectly placed to slide home Sobota's cross at the back post. The frustration of conceding a late equaliser at Bielefeld seemed long forgotten and on 58 Orlishausen was left picking the ball out of the net yet again. Sahin produced his third assist of the night in setting up Bouhaddouz, who had the simple task of slotting the ball into the empty net to make it 4-0 and send the Millerntor into raptures.

The visitors took a while to recover from the triple whammy but when they did venture forward Heerwagen again proved alert to the danger, pulling off two outstanding stops to deny Diamantakos. Meanwhile the men in front of him continued to spread the ball around and could hardly put a foot wrong. On 79 minutes Bouhaddouz unselfishly attempted to find Thy, but the ball rebounded back to him and he completed the rout with a delightful dink over Orlishausen for his hat-trick. The Boys in Brown comfortably saw out the rest of the game and departed the field to thunderous applause from the home fans, who can now look forward with confidence to the crucial trip to 1860 Munich next week.

FC St. Pauli

Heerwagen – Dudziak, Hornschuh, Gonther, Buballa – Sahin (Kalla 75'), Nehrig (Thy 70'), Buchtmann, Sobota – Bouhaddouz, Møller Dæhli (Flum 63')

Head coach: Ewald Lienen

Karlsruher SC

Orlishausen – Bader, Thoelke, Jordi Figueras, Kempe (Mavrias 46') – Prömel, Meffert – Yamada (Hoffer 53'), Stoppelkamp - Diamantakos, Mugosa (Mehlem 61')

Head coach: Mirko Slomka

Goals: 1-0 Møller Dæhli (12'), 2-0 Sobota (50'), 3-0 Bouhaddouz (52'), 4-0 Bouhaddouz (58'), 5-0 Bouhaddouz (79')

Yellow cards: Sahin - Kempe

Referee: Günter Perl

Attendance: 29,073

Photos: Witters