FC St. Pauli

The St. Pauli boss made four changes to the side that lost 2-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf last time out. Injury casualties Waldemar Sobota (plantar fascia tear) and Lasse Sobiech (deltoid ligament sprain) missed out, while Jeremy Dudziak and Jan-Marc Schneider dropped to the bench. Their places in the starting lineup were taken by Philipp Ziereis, Bernd Nehrig, Sami Allagui and Cenk Sahin.

Braunschweig made the better start to the proceedings. With three minutes gone Christoffer Nyland employed dubious means to shrug off a challenge from Christopher Avevor but was unable to beat Robin Himmelmann when clean through. That early wake-up call sparked the Boys in Brown into action, and a Johannes Flum effort followed by a header and a shot from Allagui soon gave them the edge in terms of chances created.

Torsten Lieberknecht's side were not without attacking intent themselves, but apart from an awkward looping effort by Hochscheidt they lacked punch in the final third. And the visitors could have had no complaints had they gone behind after 35 minutes when Sahin was denied by goalkeeper Jasmin Fejzic from a tight angle following a promising counter-attack. Another fine St. Pauli move culminated with Aziz Bouhaddouz having the ball taken off his toe at the last moment before Richard Neudecker's rebound effort was smothered by Fejzic.  

Cenk Sahin had the best chance in the first half but was denied by Jasmin Fejzic.

Braunschweig began the second half the brighter and were unlucky not to go in front on 54. Suleiman Abdullahi could have squared the ball to Onur Bulut but elected to shoot from the edge of the box instead. Fortunately for the Boys in Brown, the ball struck the foot of the post and rebounded to safety. Nine minutes later Allagui had the ball in the net, but the goal was ruled out for the narrowest of offsides.

Kauczinski's side would have been worth their lead had Bouhaddouz picked his spot better when ideally placed to score on 73. And 60 seconds later Allagui was taken by surprise when Fejzic misjudged a Neudecker corner and the ball found its way to him at the far post, his header from a metre out flying agonisingly wide. Yet the Boys in Brown enjoyed another slice of luck at the other end eight minutes from time when Abdullahi hit the upright for a second time with a powerfully struck effort from close range. Both sides went all out for a winner in the closing stages, but a lack of resolve at either end resulted in the points being shared.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Park, Ziereis, Avevor, Buballa – Nehrig (Dudziak 89'), Flum – Sahin, Allagui (Schneider 75'), Neudecker (Møller Dæhli 83') – Bouhaddouz

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

Eintracht Braunschweig

Fejzic – Sauer, Tingager, Valsvik, Kijewski – Bulut, Hochscheidt, Boland, Abdullahi (Kumbela 89') – Nyman (Schönfeld 80'), Hofmann (Samson 67')

Head coach: Torsten Lieberknecht

Yellow cards: Nehrig, Neudecker – Abdullahi, Boland

Referee: Markus Schmidt (Stuttgart)

Attendance: 29,546 (sold out)

Photos: Witters