FC St. Pauli

Jos Luhukay's side set off on a veritable marathon of home games (four competitive fixtures at the Millerntor in 20 days) intent on extending their unbeaten run by securing a fourth successive win on home soil. The St. Pauli boss made three changes to the team that drew 1-1 at FC Nürnberg last time out, James Lawrence, Florian Carstens and Dimitrios Diamantakos coming into the starting lineup for Leo Østigård, Matt Penney and Viktor Gyökeres.

The Boys in Brown got off to a bright start and quickly fashioned a couple of chances in the opening exchanges. With three minutes on the clock, Marvin Knoll took advantage of some space to drill a left-foot shot narrowly wide of the far post from 20 metres. Diamantakos followed suit a few minutes later, pinging a shot wide from the edge of the box. At the other end, Patrick Herrmann drove into the area and Himmelmann had to dive to his right to palm the Darmstadt right-back's angled drive over the bar for a corner.

With both sides lacking punch up front, most of the action unfolded between the two boxes, but as the game approached half-time the Boys in Brown managed to crank up the pressure again. A cross-cum shot from Diamantakos almost caught Darmstadt goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen out at the near post, and 60 seconds later Mats Møller Dæhli drove into the area after playing a one-two with Waldemar Sobota, only for a defender to shut the door at the last moment. Just before the interval Diamantakos had another go on the half-volley. He struck it nicely enough, but the shot lacked the accuracy to trouble Schuhen.

Florian Carstens clears under pressure from Marcel Heller in a hard-fought encounter.

The second half was to prove a more entertaining affair. Four minutes in, Mathias Honsak suddenly got goal-side of the defence, but dawdled in front of Himmelmann and the chance was gone. Just 60 seconds later, the Austrian was ready to strike again near the penalty spot. This time Florian Carstens stepped in at the last moment to poke the ball away from the danger area. At the other end, Finn Ole Becker was denied by Schuhen after some delightful play with Møller Dæhli. The Norwegian then set up Diamantakos, who couldn't muster enough power on his shot from 14 metres. Luhukay's charges did put the ball in the net four minutes after that, but Sobota was in an offside position when he diverted a Becker shot past Schuhen and the goal was correctly disallowed.

Going into the closing stages the game could have gone either way but it was the visitors who struck with ten minutes to go, Palsson heading his side in front from a corner by substitute Tobias Kempe. The Boys in Brown sought to hit back right away, but Østigård was unable to make a decisive contact on a Møller Dæhli free-kick, allowing Schuhen to fall on the ball. And for all their attempts to salvage a point with time running out, there was no way through a resolute Darmstadt defence.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Ohlsson, Carstens, Lawrence (Østigård 78'), Buballa – Becker – Miyaichi, Møller Dæhli, Knoll (Buchtmann 57'), Sobota (Flum 72') – Diamantakos

Head coach: Jos Luhukay

SV Darmstadt 98

Schuhen – Herrmann, Dumic, Höhn, Holland – Paik, Palsson (Stark 87') – Heller (Skarke 61'), Mehlem, Honsak (Kempe 77')  – Dursun

Head coach: Dimitrios Grammozis

Goals: 0-1 Palsson (80')

Yellow cards: Lawrence, Becker – Palsson, Kempe

Referee: Tobias Reichel

Attendance: 29,412

Photos: Witters