FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz made four changes to the side that lost 3-0 at home to Karlsruhe nearly two weeks ago. Christopher Avevor, James Lawrence, Kevin Lankford and Maximilian Dittgen all started in place of Marvin Knoll, Luca Zander, Leart Paqarada and Rico Benatelli. Paderborn coach Steffen Baumgart, on the other hand, saw no reason to change his starting eleven after the convincing 4-0 victory at Darmstadt.

"I'd be delighted if the game ebbs and flows and both teams play with lots of fire and passion," said Schultz in the run-up. And that's how it transpired, with both teams declining to take a close look at each other early on, instead focusing on disrupting the opposition build-up. That led to an absence of goalscoring opportunities in the opening stages, however, with both sides defending resolutely. One opening did materialise for the advancing Sebastian Ohlsson from a throw-in in the ninth minute, but his left-foot shot from just outside the box struck Simon Makienok, who was lying on the ground.

The Boys in Brown fashioned a great opportunity to take the lead on 12 minutes when a perfect cross from Kevin Lankford found Maximilian Dittgen, who headed just past the left-hand upright when looking favourite to score. At the other end, Christopher Antwi-Adjei burst past several St. Pauli players into the area, but his low delivery was directed well off target by Julian Justvan. There were loud appeals for a penalty three minutes later when Svante Ingelsson appeared to handle the ball in the Paderborn box. After going to VAR, referee Christian Dingert correctly pointed to the spot. Rodrigo Zalazar opted to drive the penalty down the middle, only to see Leopold Zingerle prevent him from giving his side the lead with his outstretched foot.

It remained a high-intensity affair. Paderborn enjoyed more of the possession, but it was the Boys in Brown who carved out the next chance when Ohlsson drove into the penalty area from the right after some good interplay with Lankford and passed to Daniel-Kofi Kyereh. His shot was blocked at the last second by a defender. Paderborn gradually began to dominate and create some decent opportunities of their own. With 35 minutes gone, James Lawrence just about managed to get in the way of a shot from Dennis Srbeny before Chris Führich hit the outside of the post from just inside the box. Then the home side were awarded a penalty when Zalazar brought down Ingelsson. Srbeny saw his initial attempt parried by Himmelmann, but the striker reacted quickly to prod the rebound over the line. In the final minute of the half, Zingerle got down low to keep out a Lankford effort that was heading for the bottom-right corner, ensuring the Boys in Brown went in a goal down at the break.

After scoring from the spot against Nürnberg and Darmstadt, Rodrigo Zalazar was denied by Paderborn's Leopold Zingerle today.

Both sides emerged unchanged for the second half. It remained an entertaining contest after the restart, with both teams sticking to their approach of getting forward at every opportunity. In the 53rd minute, Dittgen forced his way down the left and knocked a high ball into the middle for Makienok, who attempted an acrobatic bicycle kick but didn’t get enough on it. Sixty seconds later the alarm bells were ringing at the other end when Srbeny got a shot off from an acute angle, only to see the ball come back off the outside of the far post.

The home side then doubled their lead thanks to some early pressing. When Ohlsson was quickly closed down on the right, the blocked clearance fell to Srbeny. He knocked it into the middle to Führich, who left Himmelmann no chance with a pinpoint low drive into the bottom-right corner from just outside the box. After Christopher Avevor had deflected a Führich shot wide of the goal and Lawrence had headed off the line from the resulting corner, Schultz made his first two changes, Afeez Aremu and Lukas Daschner coming on for Rodrigo Zalazar and Maximilian Dittgen.

Soon after that, Finn Ole Becker teed up the advancing Ohlsson in the Paderborn penalty area, but his angled shot from the inside-right position went well over. Himmelmann then had to intervene against Antwi-Adjei, but had no problems dealing with the left-foot shot. He was equally competent in claiming a deflected effort from Srbeny sixty seconds later. The game entered the closing stages with Schultz's side still searching for the two goals that would ensure they wouldn’t return to Hamburg empty-handed. The Boys in Brown had already demonstrated their comeback qualities both at Bochum and Darmstadt, coming back from two goals down with two late strikes, so could they do it again?

Paderborn proved a tough nut to crack, however, and the Boys in Brown lacked the punch needed to breach a well-marshalled home defence. Makienok had the opportunity to pull one back on 73, but he got underneath Ohlsson's low ball in and directed his shot way too high. After Ohlsson had flicked a Paderborn free-kick on to his own crossbar, Schultz made three more substitutions. Marvin Knoll, Luca Zander and Boris Tashchy replaced Sebastian Ohlsson, Finn Ole Becker and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh.

The Boys in Brown stepped up the pressure and their hopes were raised when Daschner teed up Tashchy with a backheel and the striker found the bottom corner from 15 metres. It went to VAR, however, and the goal was rightly disallowed, as Daschner had been narrowly offside in the run-up. In the final minute, Himmelmann prevented substitute Prince-Osei Owusu from adding a third goal after possession had been lost in the build-up, and a little after that it was all over.

SC Paderborn 07

Zingerle - Dörfler, Hünemeier, Schonlau, Collins - Justvan (Terrazzino 70'), Schallenberg, Ingelsson (Vasiliadis 78') - Führich (Pröger 70'), Srbeny (Owusu 78'), Antwi-Adjei (Okoroji 89')

Head coach: Steffen Baumgart

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Ohlsson (Knoll 77'), Avevor, Lawrence, Buballa - Lankford, Zalazar (Aremu 62'), Becker (Zander 77'), Dittgen (Daschner 62') - Kyereh (Tashchy 77') - Makienok

Head coach: Timo Schultz

Goals: 1-0 Srbeny (39'), 2-0 Führich (56')

Incidents of note: Zingerle saves a penalty from Zalazar (21')/ Himmelmann saves a penalty from Srbeny (39')

Yellow cards: Collins -Kyereh, Avevor

Referee: Christian Dingert (Lebecksmühle)

Photos: Witters