FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz was forced to rejig the side that lost 2-1 at home to Darmstadt last time out. Jackson Irvine, Marcel Hartel and Marcel Beifus were all serving one-match bans, while captain Philipp Ziereis and birthday boy Guido Burgstaller missed out through illness and injury respectively. Schultz made six changes in total, with James Lawrence, Luca Zander, Afeez Aremu, Christopher Buchtmann, Lukas Daschner and Maximilian Dittgen all coming into the starting lineup. Nürnberg boss Robert Klauss made three adjustments from the 4-2 home defeat against Sandhausen and was also without former St. Pauli player Mats Møller Dæhli, who is carrying a knock.

As usual, the Millerntor was rocking well before kick-off and Boys in Brown began towards the South Stand aiming to ratchet up the atmosphere another notch with a decent performance. The first chance fell to the visitors, however, when Afeez Aremu lost possession in his own half. He and his teammates were outnumbered briefly but managed to clear the danger eventually. At the other end, Christopher Buchtmann pulled the trigger inside the box after Nürnberg had failed to deal with a Leart Paqarada cross properly, but the shot was blocked.

It was a high-tempo affair from the outset with both sides looking to get forward quickly in a rather scrappy opening, but there were no further goalscoring opportunities until the 13^th minute when Finn Ole Becker won the ball off Johannes Geis and Maximilian Dittgen went for goal from 25 metres. Unfortunately, the shot was too high. Five minutes later the crowd were up on their feet in anticipation of a goal when Daniel-Kofi Kyereh set up the advancing Dittgen on the left, but his whipped-in cross narrowly failed to find Lukas Daschner at the far post.

After a brief lull in the action, the ball came to Becker in the left channel, though his curling effort from just outside the box flew well wide. Paqarada then went a lot closer with a long-range effort on 37, aiming about a metre the wrong side of the post. The left-back then fed Daschner in the middle and his shot was blocked by Florian Hübner. Just before Schultz introduced Rico Benatelli for Aremu, who was on a yellow, the visitors created an opening for Lino Tempelmann from a free-kick. His effort cleared the crossbar by some distance, however, and the two sides went in goalless at the break.

James Lawrence (here under challenge from Nürnberg's Lukas Schleimer) made his first start since the second derby against HSV.

Timo Schultz sent out an unchanged team for the second period, while his counterpart Robert Klauss made one adjustment in attack, Nikola Dovedan replacing Pascal Köpke. The second half began like the first had left off – with lots of high-intensity challenges and the odd decision by referee Bastian Dankert drawing the ire of the home faithful. The visitors had the first sniff of goal five minutes in when Lukas Schleimer looked to square the ball to Dovedan in the box, but Lawrence was a shade quicker to it and completed the clearance.

The Boys in Brown continued to struggle to find a way through the well marshalled Nürnberg rearguard but did manage to threaten occasionally, as when Paqarada and Buchtmann combined to feed Daschner in the box. He knocked the ball back to Kyereh, who in turn squared it for the unmarked Becker. His shot with his weaker right foot looked like it was going in but unfortunately it bounced back off the inside of the post. At the other end Nikolas Vasilj, having had little to do all evening, had no trouble dealing with a Tom Krauss effort just before the hour.

By now the Schultz XI had upped the pressure and yet they almost went behind on 63 when Lawrence lost possession to Kilian Fischer on the left. He set off towards goal, went round Jakov Medić in the box and unleashed a shot that went narrowly wide of the left-hand upright. Schultz then threw on Igor Matanović for Maximilian Dittgen and soon after that Paqarada teed up Daschner, but his shot was well wide. The game was drifting to a close and a scoreline that was little use to either side.

The Boys in Brown increased their efforts and fashioned the next opportunity, Buchtmann testing Mathenia with a shot from inside the D. And from the resulting corner Dankert pointed to the spot after a foul by Christopher Schindler on Matanović. Kyereh stepped up to take the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way to give his side the lead with 16 minutes left to play.

That meant Nürnberg had to do more if they were to stay in contention in the promotion race, and Krauss introduced an attacker in Taylan Duman for Asger Sörensen before adding another two strikers in Manuel Schäffler and Erik Shuranov. Just before that Daschner had had the chance to double the lead, but his shot was blocked by Fabian Nürnberger.

With the game entering the closing stages, the Boys in Brown gave everything they had to protect their lead, urged on by the home crowd, but Nürnberger still managed to worm his way past several defenders in the box to shoot and the ball flew a whisker past the angle. The atmosphere was electric, with every tackle won drawing rounds of applause from the fans. It went into stoppage time and somehow the visitors produced an equaliser, Duman firing into the bottom right corner from ten metres to deny the Boys in Brown a crucial home win.

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Zander, Medić, Lawrence, Paqarada - Aremu (Benatelli 40'), Becker, Buchtmann (Ritzka 88'), Daschner (Amenyido 88') - Dittgen (Matanović 63'), Kyereh (Makienok 88')

Head coach: Timo Schultz

FC Nürnberg

Mathenia - Schindler, Hübner, Sörensen (Duman 76') - Fischer (Schäffler 81'), Krauss, Geis (Nürnberger 63'), Tempelmann, Handwerker - Schleimer (Shuranov 81'), Köpke (Dovedan 46')

Head coach: Robert Klauss

Goals: 1-0 Kyereh (pen. 74'), 1-1 Duman (90'+2)

Yellow cards: Aremu, Becker, assistant coach Loïc Favé

Referee: Bastian Dankert (Rostock)

Attendance: 29,312

Photos: Witters