FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz made one change to the side that lost 2-0 at Hansa Rostock. David Otto started alongside Johannes Eggestein up front, with Igor Matanović dropping to the bench. Paderborn boss Lukas Kwasniok also made one change following the barnstorming 7-2 home win over Holstein Kiel, Uwe Hünemeier coming into the three-man backline in place of Jasper van der Werff.

A slightly under-capacity crowd of 29,269 at the Millerntor saw a high-intensity affair from the off. Paderborn, operating with a back five when defending the ball and a back three when in possession, threatened early on when Julian Justvan burst through the midfield at pace and took aim from 20 metres, but David Nemeth was able to get a decisive deflection on it. Then, in almost a carbon-copy situation at the other end, Marcel Hartel drove forward and knocked the ball to his right to Manolis Saliakas. His shot from just outside the area was blocked by Raphael Obermair.

It remained intensive, but with both defences giving little away there were no further goalscoring opportunities until the Boys in Brown came close to opening the scoring with a quick attacking move on 16 minutes. Eric Smith whipped a diagonal ball out to Saliakas on the right, who cut it back for Jackson Irvine to cross into the middle from the right channel. Johannes Eggestein was allowed a free header at the far post and steered it past SCP keeper Jannik Huth, only for Uwe Hünemeier to clear off the line.

The next chance arrived just three minutes later when Hartel broke down the left into the box and crossed from the byeline to Lukas Daschner at the back post. He controlled the ball and dragged his attempt off target from nine metres - a decent opportunity. An even better one arrived 180 seconds later. Nemeth hit a long ball in behind the Paderborn defence to Eggestein, who would have been clean through but failed to control the ball properly and the chance was gone. The visitors came to Hamburg on the back of three successive victories but were largely anonymous in attack until they were presented with a chance after the Boys in Brown lost possession in their own half. Justvan unleashed a shot from the left channel, but Nemeth threw himself in the way and completed the block.

Back at the other end, Paderborn experienced problems clearing their lines, allowing Leart Paqarada to collect the ball and feed Hartel. After a quick dribble, the midfielder teed up Daschner, but his left-foot shot from 15 metres rolled narrowly past the far post. The Boys in Brown had the league leaders pinned back in their own half now and soon created another opportunity. Paqarada cut the ball back from the byeline to Hartel, who unloaded from 14 metres, only for Hünemeier to get a late block in. But then, on the stroke of half-time, Paderborn suddenly upped the tempo and took a surprise lead. Felix Platte played the ball from the left channel to Marvin Pieringer in the middle and he left Dennis Smarsch, who had had little to do to that point, no chance with a low shot into the bottom left corner. That's football. Having played really well for 45 minutes, fashioned a host of decent opportunities and prevented the league leaders from finding their rhythm, the Boys in Brown found themselves a goal down at the break.

Lukas Daschner goes for goal from the right channel in the 19th minute, but unfortunately doesn't get a proper contact on it and one of many good opportunities goes begging.

The game resumed with both teams unchanged. Paderborn had the first good chance and came within a whisker of extending their lead. Robert Leipertz played an intelligent ball through to Pieringer and when Saliakas stepped in at the last second, the ball looped up over Smarsch towards goal, striking the crossbar before coming down just in front of the line before Smarsch recovered to gather. Saliakas was in the spotlight at the other end soon after when Deniz Aytekin pointed to the spot after Marcel Hoffmeier had foiled the Greek defender's energetic attempt to disrupt the build-up with a foul. Paqarada stepped up but was denied by Huth, who dived low to his right to make the save.

It was end-to-end stuff now and the visitors almost doubled their lead moments later, but Smarsch reacted brilliantly to first block a Justvan volley and then two rebound efforts from Leipertz. Soon after, Hartel met an underhit clearance first time, but once again Hünemeier threw himself in front of the shot. Both sides then made double substitutions, with Timo Schultz replacing Johannes Eggestein and David Otto with Etienne Amenyido and Igor Matanović. Four minutes later, the Boys in Brown had two appeals for a penalty waved away by Aytekin. A little later, Florent Muslija curled a free-kick over the crossbar from 20 metres.

The Schultz XI maintained the pressure and had their next chance from a corner. Hartel delivered the ball into the middle for Irvine to head towards goal, but Huth was alert to the danger. With the game entering the closing stages, Schultz made two more changes, Luca Zander and Carlo Boukhalfa replacing Manolis Saliakas and Eric Smith. Zander got forward straightaway and set up Paqarada for a shot from 22 metres that was saved by Huth.

The closing stages had it in them and finally the Millerntor erupted in celebration! Paqarada dispatched the ball into the penalty area and the advancing Nemeth returned a perfectly placed volley for Amenyido to net into the bottom left corner from nine metres and make it 1-1 with six minutes left. Paderborn hit back immediately, however, and substitute Sirlord Conteh popped up unmarked in front of Smarsch to silence the home crowd. It then went to VAR and Aytekin correctly ruled the goal out for offside. The Millerntor was rocking again and the Boys in Brown turned on the turbo, yet Conteh was not to be denied and restored Paderborn's lead in the second minute of stoppage time when he collected a pass from Platte and outpaced Jakov Medić to beat Smarsch.

The goal left the Millerntor in stunned silence but the Boys in Brown were to have the last word within 60 seconds when Paqarada's corner found the head of Nemeth and he guided a header into the bottom right corner from eight metres. Huth got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out and the Millerntor was a cauldron again. The Boys in Brown had shown great morale to earn a point they more than deserved.

FC St. Pauli

Smarsch - Saliakas (Zander 74'), Nemeth, Medić, Paqarada - Smith (Boukhalfa 74'), Irvine, Hartel, Daschner - Eggestein (Matanović 58'), Otto (Amenyido 58')

Head coach: Timo Schultz

SC Paderborn 07

Huth - Heuer, Hünemeier (Van der Werff 80'), Hoffmeier - Schallenberg - Leipertz (Schuster 58'), Muslija (Srbeny 80'), Justvan (Tachie 74'), Obermair - Platte, Pieringer (Conteh 58')

Head coach: Lukas Kwasniok

Goals: 0-1 Pieringer (44'), 1-1 Amenyido (84'), 1-2 Conteh (90'+2), 2-2 Nemeth (90'+3)

Yellow cards: Otto, Nemeth - Justvan

Referee: Deniz Aytekin (Oberasbach)

Attendance: 29,269

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters