FC St. Pauli

Head coach Jos Luhukay made five changes to the team that lost 4-0 at Hannover 96 in midweek. Daniel Buballa (patella tendon), Matt Penney, Marvin Knoll, Rico Benatelli and Luis Coordes (all bench) made way for Marvin Senger, Christian Viet, Waldemar Sobota, Dimitrios Diamantakos and Henk Veerman.

Luhukay's side went into the game looking to secure their second-division status for another season against a Regensburg team that had done just that with a 2-1 win over Karlsruhe on Wednesday evening. The match began in bright sunshine and after a brief period of acclimatisation it was the Boys in Brown who fashioned the opening chances. Sobota, again wearing the captain's armband, tried his luck from the corner of the box with six minutes on the clock, but his curling effort was too high. Five minutes later, Viktor Gyökeres was denied from range by Jahn keeper Alexander Weidinger.

A goal was in the offing and moments later it arrived when Sebastian Nachreiner underhit a backpass to Weidinger. Henk Veerman nipped in to intercept and the loose ball fell to Diamantakos, who took it past Weidinger to net from seven metres. Luhukay's side remained in the ascendency and created another chance for Veerman on 16, but his header from Luca Zander's cross narrowly cleared the crossbar. Three minutes after that, Sobota threaded the ball through to Diamantakos, but Weidinger got a hand to the ball to turn it away.

The visitors had been anonymous in attack to that point but struck in clinical fashion in the 27^th minute when right-back Oliver Hein got forward to collect a clearance outside the box and hammer a low shot into the net to level things up. Robin Himmelmann managed to get a hand to it but couldn't prevent it sneaking into the bottom corner. The Boys in Brown brushed themselves down and returned to creating chances at the other end. First, Weidinger gathered a long-range effort from Finn Ole Becker, and then Sobota nicked the ball in midfield and drove into the box, only to drag his shot just wide. That was the last of the first-half action and the two sides went in all square at the break.

Viktor Gyökeres challenges Regensburg's Oliver Hein.

Luhukay made one change for the second period, introducing Maximilian Franzke for the ailing Diamantakos. Regensburg's Hein, the game's other goalscorer, also stayed in the dressing-room. The pattern of the game remained very much the same, however, with the Boys in Brown continuing to dominate and carving out the next chance in the 49^th minute. Gyökeres squared the ball to Veerman, who pulled the trigger from inside the box, only to see his effort deflect off two Regensburg defenders and go behind for a corner.

Regensburg continued to pose little threat up front, as the Boys in Brown pushed forward in search of a second. The goal failed to materialise, however, and the visitors gradually came more into the game from around the hour mark. Chances remained a rarity at both ends, however, until the 70^th minute when the ball eventually found its way to Sebastian Stolze from a corner, and he blazed a shot over the top from six metres.

Gyökeres then tried his luck at the other end, but his shot lacked the power to beat Weidinger. Luhukay had already brought on Luis Coordes for Christian Viet by this stage and then opted to throw Jan-Philipp Kalla and Matt Penney into the fray for the closing onslaught in place of Zander and Gyökeres. Three minutes from the end of regulation time, Johannes Flum came on for Sobota.

None of the substitutes was able to make a decisive impact, however, ensuring the final home game of the season ended in a 1-1 draw. Despite failing to land the win they were looking for, the Boys in Brown still secured their second-division status because Karlsruher SC could only recover to 3-3 from 3-0 down against champions Arminia Bielefeld.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Zander (Kalla 80'), Østigård, Senger, Ohlsson - Viet (Coordes 71'), Becker, Sobota (Flum 87'), Gyökeres (Penney 80') - Veerman, Diamantakos (Franzke 46')

Head coach: Jos Luhukay

SSV Jahn Regensburg

Weidinger - Hein (Saller 46'), Nachreiner, Correia (Knipping 23'), Okoroji - Geipl, Besuschkow (Baack 85'), Wekesser (Albers 71'), Stolze (Derstroff 71') - Makridis, Grüttner

Head coach: Mersad Selimbegovic

Goals: 1-0 Diamantakos (11'), 1-1 Hein (27')

Yellow cards: Østigård, Senger, Sobota (fifth of the season = suspended at Wiesbaden)

Referee: Florian Heft

Photos: Witters