FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler made five changes to the side that secured a late win over Karlsruher SC. Sascha Burchert, who kept goal at Atlas Delmenhorst in the first round, came in for his home debut. Philipp Treu, who got the winner in the 2-1 defeat of KSC, also featured in the starting lineup along with Danel Sinani, Elias Saad and Simon Zoller, the latter making his first competitive start for the club. Schalke coach Karel Geraerts made three adjustments, captain Simon Terodde returning to the team in place of Dominik Drexler. Danny Latza slotted into midfield for the suspended Lino Tempelmann, while Ibrahima Cissé got the nod over Tomás Kalas in defence.

The Boys in Brown, wearing their petrol-coloured cup strip, went into the game looking for a repeat of the 3-1 win when the two sides met in the league at the Millerntor five weeks ago. And they dominated the possession in the opening quarter of an hour, with the visitors content to sit back and pack their defence. It came as little surprise, then, that the first chance of the game resulted from a set piece in the 16^th minute. Tobias Mohr it was with a free-kick towards Marcin Kamiński, whose close-range header left Burchert no chance on its way into the net. As in the last two outings against Paderborn and KSC, Fabian Hürzeler’s charges found themselves chasing the game.

Not until the 28^th minute did the home side penetrate the Schalke penalty box, Marcel Hartel slipping the ball through for Elias Saad to shoot from the left channel. Unfortunately, his effort flew off target. In the ensuing period Boys in Brown continued to struggle to unlock the Royal Blue rearguard. Schalke, in turn, placed their faith in long balls from their own half in search of the lightning-quick Bryan Lasme, but meaningful sights of goal remained an absolute rarity.

Five minutes before the break, Schalke marksman Simon Terodde limped off to be replaced by Sebastian Polter, the scorer of the equaliser in the league meeting five weeks ago. Seconds later the home support were already celebrating the equaliser when Hartel picked out Simon Zoller with a cross, but Fährmann produced a brilliant reflex save to keep out the striker’s diving header.

The South Stand called for a repeat of the league win before the game.

Hürzeler introduced two fresh attacking players in Connor Metcalfe and Johannes Eggestein to add more punch for the second period, Lars Ritzka and Danel Sinani the men to make way. The visitors, in contrast, remained unchanged. Just two minutes in the switch almost had an immediate effect when Fährmann was forced into another excellent stop by Metcalfe from the edge of the box. And the Boys in Brown maintained the pressure, especially down the right-hand side through Metcalfe, who in the 57^th minute laid the ball off for his Australia teammate Jackson Irvine, and his shot struck Derry Murkin on the arm, prompting referee Bastian Dankert to point to the spot. Marcel Hartel stepped up and converted the penalty with aplomb to restore parity. 

The Boys in Brown continued to press in search of a second. Johannes Eggestein tried his luck with a shot on the turn a quarter of an hour from the end, but Fährmann was alert to the danger and made the save at his near post. With the visitors seldom able to play their way out of their own half, it had more the look of a handball game about it, with the Boys in Brown circling around the opposition penalty area in a bid to find an opening. Yet the Schalke defence stood firm, as when Hartel went for goal ten minutes from time. 

Two minutes from time Etienne Amenyido, on for Simon Zoller, went close with a header. The Boys in Brown threw everyone forward but to no avail and it ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, just as it had done 23 years ago when the two teams last met in the DFB Cup. 

Marcel Hartel equalises from the spot

Into extra-time we went, and with both sides drawing on their last reserves of energy, it took a while for the first big chance to materialise. Johannes Eggestein teed up Etienne Amenyido in the box, but his shot flew some distance over the top. The Hürzeler XI were to prove more accurate soon afterwards, however, when Hartel picked out Eggestein with a perfectly weighted free-kick, and he directed a textbook header beyond Fährmann into the far corner.

The task in the second period of extra-time was to keep Schalke at bay while attempting to put the game to bed with a third goal. And the chances to do that were there in the 106^th and 107^th minutes when a Hartel knockdown almost produced an own goal by a Schalke defender and Amenyido’s header from the resulting corner was defused by Fährmann. Hartel’s curling effort on 109 minutes also missed the target by a whisker. 

Schalke went for broke in the closing stages in a bid to take it to penalties, but the Boys in Brown saw the game out to progress to the DFB Cup Round of 16. The draw will be made next Sunday at 15.45 CET. 

FC St. Pauli

Burchert - Wahl, Smith (Dźwigała 99’), Mets - Treu, Irvine (C), Hartel, Ritzka (Metcalfe 46’) - Sinani (Eggestein 46’), Zoller (Amenyido 79’), Saad (Saliakas 90’)

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

FC Schalke 04

Fährmann - Cissé (Kalas 61’), Kamiński, Murkin - Matriciani, Latza (Tauer 61’), Schallenberg, Mohr (Kabadayi 76’) - Lasme (Kozuki 76’), Terodde (Polter 40’), Karaman

Head coach: Karel Geraerts

Goals: 0-1 Kamiński (16’), 1.1 Hartel (pen. 57’), 2-1 Eggestein (102’)

Yellow cards: Amenyido, Irvine, Hartel, Saliakas –  Schallenberg, Matriciani, Kabadayi

Referee: Bastian Dankert (Rostock)

Attendance: 28,589 

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters