FC St. Pauli

Monday night football under floodlights at the Millerntor. A perfect setting for the Boys in Brown to atone for the 3-1 defeat at FC Heidenheim last time out. Standing in their way were FC Nürnberg, who themselves had the opportunity to go top with a win. Head coach Markus Kauczinski opted for Yiyoung Park in place of the injured Luca Zander (neck bruising) and also handed starts to Sami Allagui and Richard Neudecker, Dimitrios Diamantakos and Johannes Flum dropping to the bench.

The game got off to a lively start, with Allagui testing FCN keeper Fabian Bredlow after just 14 seconds. That was to prove the first of several opportunities for the home side. With nine minutes gone Waldemar Sobota powered his way into the box and laid the ball off to Sami Allagui, who narrowly missed the target. Next, Aziz Bouhaddouz went close with a free-kick on 17.

Three minutes later the home fans were left fearing the worst when Mikael Ishak headed towards goal, only to be denied first by the post and then by Robin Himmelmann on the rebound. It was to be his final involvement in the game. The striker picked up an injury in attempting to score and was unable to continue.

Otherwise it was Markus Kauczinski's side who came closest to scoring. After 25 minutes Richard Neudecker whipped in a dead ball to Christopher Avevor at the far post, who knocked it back across goal to Allagui. The Tunisian was unable to make a proper contact, however, and his bundled effort was saved on the line by Bredlow. There was nothing the keeper could have done a minute from half-time, however, when Sobota had a glancing header cleared off the line by Tim Leibold.

The Boys in Brown had the better chances, but it remained scoreless at the break.

After the interval Kauczinski's side were happy to surrender possession to the visitors and try their luck on the break from a solid defence. But though the Franconians enjoyed more of the play, it was the Boys in Brown who posed the greater threat. And when Allagui was brought down outside the box at the last moment on 48, Bouhaddouz stepped up to curl the free-kick against the crossbar. Five minutes later Allagui went for goal himself and Bredlow just managed to get down and turn the ball round the post for a corner.

The Boys in Brown kept pushing forward in their quest to force a winner. On 74 a Bernd Nehrig corner found the head of Lasse Sobiech, but the ball came down on top of the net. Soon after Ewerton lost his bearings in the box, presenting Bouhaddouz with the opportunity to shoot, but once again Bredlow produced a magnificent reflex save. At the other end Leibold came within a whisker of scoring with a shot from just outside the area five minutes from time, but otherwise the home defence had the visitors under control. Unfortunately, however, the Boys in Brown were unable to find the goal their battling performance would have merited.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Park, Sobiech, Avevor, Buballa – Nehrig, Dudziak – Sobota, Allagui (Diamantakos 69'), Neudecker (Kalla 81') – Bouhaddouz (Flum 90')

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

FC Nürnberg

Bredlow – Valentini, Mühl, Ewerton, Leibold – Erras – Behrens, Möhwald – Palacios (Petrak 88'), Löwen (Stefaniak 75'), Ishak (Werner 26')

Head coach: Michael Köllner

Yellow cards: Nehrig – Werner, Ewerton, Valentini

Referee: Felix Zwayer (Berlin)

Attendance: 29,313

Photos: Witters