FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler made two changes to the side that lost to Eintracht Braunschweig last time out, Eric Smith returning from injury for Adam Dźwigała, while Afeez Aremu made his first start since the 4-4 draw at KSC in Round 17 in place of Connor Metcalfe, who began on the  bench. His counterpart, Tim Walter, made three adjustments after the 2-0 reverse at Kaiserslautern. Jonas Meffert returned to his customary position in holding midfield, while full-back Moritz Heyer and winger Jean-Luc Domé got the nod over Noah Katterbach and Laszlo Benes.

The hosts registered the first attempt on goal after three minutes through Robert Glatzel, whose effort proved no problem for Nikola Vasilj. At the other end, a passing move involving Manolis Saliakas and Leart Paqarada ended at the feet of Marcel Hartel, but his effort flew straight to HSV keeper Daniel Heuer Fernandes. In the 12^th minute, some of the travelling support thought their side had scored when Dapo Afolayan jinked in from the right and went for goal. It took a dangerous deflection but landed in the side netting. 

With a quarter of an hour gone, the danger was at the other end when Sonny Kittel pulled the trigger from a narrow angle and the ball fizzed narrowly past the right-hand upright. Almost immediately, Afolayan had the ball in the net, only for referee Sven Jablonski to disallow the goal for an alleged foul by the forward. The game ebbed and flowed and there were chances at both ends, including one for Lukas Daschner following a whipped-in cross from the left, but he was unable to get the ball under control. 

The ball found the net again in the 36^th minute and this time it counted. Jackson Irvine won a key header in the HSV half and when the ball arrived at Lukas Daschner, he sent Saliakas on his way. The Greek full-back darted into the area and rifled a shot into the net by the near post. The joy was short-lived, however, as the home side levelled the scores just before the break after a brief spell of pressure, centre-back Jonas David curling a shot into the top corner from just outside the box.

Manolis Saliakas celebrates after opening the scoring.

Tim Walter introduced Königsdörffer for Dompé at the beginning of the second half, while the Boys in Brown remained unchanged. And just three minutes in they found themselves behind when Bakery Jatta converted a long ball into the back post from close range. It remained one-way traffic, and Vasilj produced a brilliant stop to keep out a Robert Glatzel header on 52, only for Moritz Heyer to follow up on the rebound and make it 3-1.

Hürzeler responded by throwing on two fresh attacking players in Elias Saad and Connor Metcalfe for Dapo Afolayan and Afeez Aremu. Both were in the action right away. A blocked effort from Saad found its way to Metcalfe just outside the area, and his left-foot drive flew just the wrong side of the post. A disappointing evening for the Boys in Brown was compounded when Eric Smith received his fifth booking of the campaign and will therefore miss the home game against Bielefeld though suspension. 

In the ensuing period, the Hürzeler XI began to claw their way back into the game and created decent chances for Paqarada and Hartel, who were both denied by Heuer Fernandes. The pressure paid off in the 71^st minute, however, when a long ball from Paqarada found the advancing Saad, who kept his composure in front of Heuer Fernandes and netted to make it 3-2, his first league goal for the club. The power play continued, and Smith came agonisingly close to restoring parity when a deflected looping ball fell to him, and his first-time volley flew only narrowly off target.

The game exploded into life again in the final quarter of an hour. First, Jakov Medić put through his own goal when trying to clear in the 78^th minute, and then, two minutes later, Jackson Irvine rose to meet a corner and headed home. The Boys in Brown threw everything at it and peppered the HSV box with long balls, but their efforts proved in vain, and the game ended in a narrow defeat. 

Hamburger SV

Heuer Fernandes - Heyer, David, Schonlau (c), Muheim - Reis, Meffert, Kittel (Suhonen 90’) - Jatta (Benes 60’), Glatzel, Dompé (Königsdörffer 46’, Krahn 90’+3)

Head coach: Tim Walter

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Mets, Smith, Medić - Saliakas (Beifus 89’), Irvine, Aremu (Metcalfe 59’), Paqarada (c) - Hartel, Daschner (Otto 85’), Afolayan (Saad 59’)

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

Goals: 0-1 Saliakas (36’), 1-1 David (44’), 2-1 Jatta (48’), 3-1 Heyer (52’), 3-2 Saad (71’), 4-2 Medić (o.g. 78’), 4-3 Irvine (80’)

Yellow cards: David, Heyer, Schonlau, Meffert – Afolayan, Paqarada, Smith

Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)

Attendance: 56,400

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters