FC St. Pauli

The Boys in Brown went into the game looking for their second win of the season after taking a point at HSV last time out, their third 2-2 draw in succession. Head coach Timo Schultz made just one change to his starting lineup for the meeting with next-to-bottom Karlsruhe, which again had to take place behind closed doors unfortunately. Leart Paqarada began in place of Maximilian Dittgen, who dropped to the bench.

The visitors made a bold start in the bright Hamburg sunshine, pressing the Boys in Brown early to prevent any controlled build-up play. And it was KSC who had the first decent chance following an undercooked clearance: Marco Thiede pulled the trigger from a central position outside the box and his powerfully struck effort fizzed along the ground towards the bottom left corner. Robin Himmelmann got down quickly to gather the ball by the post, but had it already crossed the line? It went to VAR and referee Alexander Sather eventually awarded the goal - the correct decision.

The Boys in Brown looked to get forward but were unable to create any meaningful chances for the time being. At the other end, the visitors were awarded a free-kick about 30 metres out. Marvin Wanitzek curled the ball over the wall, but also half a metre past the left-hand angle. Philipp Hofmann then had an opportunity to double the visitors' lead, but the KSC marksman screwed his shot off target when promisingly placed. The pattern remained pretty much the same in the ensuing period, with the Boys in Brown working hard to get the ball forward but struggling to unlock a solid Karlsruhe rearguard.

Midway through the first half, an unhappy Timo Schultz could clearly be heard in an empty Millerntor urging his players to exert more pressure on the ball and the opposition. He didn't have to wait long for his team to fashion a couple of chances. Simon Makienok went for goal from 18 metres, but his shot took a decisive deflection off a Karlsruhe defender, and Marvin Knoll then smashed a free-kick into the wall. That was to prove the last attempt worthy of note, leaving the Boys in Brown to go in a goal down at the break following a below-par first-half showing.

Simon Makienok and Daniel Gordon gave no quarter all day.

Both sides emerged unchanged for the second period. The Boys in Brown would need to step up a gear in the second half if they were to ward off their first home defeat in almost 12 months, the last being a 1-0 reverse against Hannover 96 on 30 November 2019. It was the visitors who made the better start again, however, and they quickly doubled their advantage. Heise delivered a free-kick into the middle from the left-hand side and when the ball was only half-cleared, Jerome Gondorf finished into the bottom-right corner. After going to VAR again to check whether Himmelmann had been impeded by an offside Karlsruhe player, Sather gave the goal.

After quickly conceding a second time, the Boys in Brown needed a while to regain their composure. Schultz responded by making three changes, James Lawrence, Maximilian Dittgen and Lukas Daschner replacing Marvin Knoll, Leart Paqarada and Rico Benatelli. Two minutes after coming on, Daschner went for goal from just outside the box after a square ball from Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, but he was unable to keep his shot down. With the comfort of a two-goal cushion, Karlsruhe were content to sit back in their own half, making it extremely difficult for the Boys in Brown to find any meaningful gaps.

It was left for Rodrigo Zalazar to try his luck with an individual effort, but his shot from the inside-right channel flew a good two metres past the upright. At the other end, Heise drove a free-kick into the wall. The Boys in Brown upped the tempo and Luca Zander fed Daschner, who in turn knocked it out wide to the advancing Dittgen. His shot was too centrally placed, however, allowing the largely untested Marius Gersbeck in the KSC goal to make the save.

Kyereh was then presented with a chance to pull one back after the visitors made a mistake in the build-up, but Robin Bormuth dived in at the last moment to make the block. Two minutes later, Finn Ole Becker tried his luck from the D, but Gersbeck saved once again. Almost inevitably, KSC proved more accurate at the other end, Philip Hofmann heading home a Marc Lorenz cross to put the result beyond doubt.

Schultz’s did fashion an opportunity to reduce the deficit through Daschner and Makienok, but this was not going to be our day. Daschner was initially denied by Gersbeck, and Makienok missed with an acrobatic effort on the rebound. With three minutes left, substitute Borys Tashchy fired wide from just outside the box. It was not meant to be, and it ended with KSC, for whom substitute Babacar Gueye hit the post in injury time, inflicting the first home defeat in 344 days on the Boys in Brown after a run of eleven games without a loss at the Millerntor.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Ohlsson, Knoll (Lawrence 56'), Buballa - Zander (Lankford 79'), Benatelli (Daschner 56'), Becker, Paqarada (Dittgen 56') - Zalazar - Kyereh (Tashchy 86'), Makienok

Head coach: Timo Schultz

Karlsruher SC

Gersbeck - Thiede, Bormuth, Gordon, Heise (Carlson 81') - Fröde, Gondorf - Lorenz (Goller 81'), Wanitzek, Choi (Batmaz 81') - Hofmann (Gueye 85')

Head coach: Christian Eichner

Goals: 0-1 Thiede (4'), 0-2 Gondorf (50'), 0-3 Hofmann (76')

Yellow cards: Dittgen - Gondorf

Referee: Alexander Sather (Grimma)

Photos: Witters