FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler made one change to the team that won 2-1 at Hertha BSC. Captain Jackson Irvine, who made a brief cameo in that game after recovering from an ankle injury, came into the side for Connor Metcalfe (bench). FCN boss Christian Fiél made two adjustments after the 1-0 home win over Magdeburg, goalscorer Felix Lohkemper and Taylan Duman beginning for Lukas Schleimer (bench) and Jens Castrop (one-match ban).

The Boys in Brown ran out in front of another sell-out crowd at the Millerntor intent on securing their fourth win in a row to sign off into the second international break on top of the table. And they made a bright start on a pitch soddened by some typical Hamburg weather. Three minutes in, Oladapo Afolayan fired well off target from 20 metres, but that was followed by a truly exquisite move 60 seconds later. Manolis Saliakas took a throw-in to Jackson Irvine, who first played a one-two with Johannes Eggestein and then another one with Marcel Hartel, who returned the ball to the skipper with a lovely backheel. And Irvine showed great vision to square it for Elias Saad to sweep home from eight metres. Wonderful stuff.

In what remained a high-intensity contest the Hürzeler XI enjoyed more of the possession without creating any further chances for the time being. The visitors struggled to get going and it was not until the 16^th minute that they launched their first attempt on goal from a free-kick. Ivan Marquez headed well over, however. But then, a wayward ball in the build-up saw Nürnberg draw level on 24. Nikola Vasilj undercooked an attempted pass out to Manolis Saliakas on the right, allowing Mats Møller Dæhli to intercept and burst forward before teeing up Kanji Okunuki in the middle. He was left in too much space in the box and dispatched a shot into the bottom-right corner from 12 metres to restore parity.

The equaliser was a tough one to take for the Boys in Brown, but they responded well, continuing to push forward. Faced with a compact Nürnberg rearguard, however, they struggled to find a way through. The closest they came was when Marquez deflected an Eggestein cross a whisker past the angle of post and crossbar. From the resulting corner, Afolayan unleashed a fierce drive from just outside the box, forcing a fine diving save from Mathenia. Five minutes before the interval there were loud appeals for a penalty when Eggestein went down in the box under a challenge from Ahmet Gürleyen, but referee Dr Matthias Jöllenbeck waved play on, and it remained 1-1 at the break.

Captain Jackson Irvine celebrates Elias Saad’s fourth-minute opener.

Nürnberg made one substitution at half-time, Lukas Schleimer coming on for Taylan Duman. And as in the first half, the Boys in Brown went ahead four minutes in. Eric Smith dispatched a perfectly weighted free-kick from the left for Eggestein to nip in between Mathenia and Felix Lohkemper and bundle the ball over the line from close range. Seven minutes later, another excellent move produced a third goal. Continuing to show courage under pressure from the visitors, the Hürzeler XI played the ball out of defence up to the final third, and after almost every player had seemingly had a touch of the ball, Eggestein collected a pass from Hartel and left Mathenia no chance with an angled drive from 14 metres.

With 61 minutes gone, Can Uzun and Nathaniel Brown replaced Tim Handwerker and Benjamin Goller for the visitors, followed by Connor Metcalfe for Oladapo Afolayan three minutes later. There were more appeals for a penalty on 67 when Ahmet Gürkeyen blocked a shot with an arm, though admittedly it was close to his body. The referee had another look at it in the review area but declined to give a penalty. At the other end, Vasilj had to pull out all the stops to tip a Schleimer effort onto the crossbar and prevent the visitors from halving the deficit.

Saliakas then forced a decent save from Mathenia with a shot that looked to be heading for the bottom corner. That would have settled it. Soon after, Metcalfe fired a long-range effort well over the top. In the closing stages, Nürnberg stepped up their efforts in a bid to ward off the impending defeat, prompting Hürzeler to introduce fresh legs in the shape of Andreas Albers and Etienne Amenyido for Elias Saad and Johannes Eggestein.

The Boys in Brown withstood the late Nürnberg rally and continued to push forward themselves and got their reward with a fourth goal in stoppage time. Amenyido took aim from the edge of the box and curled a lovely shot into the top right corner. But that wasn’t to be the end of it, as Metcalfe added a fifth with virtually the final kick of the game, receiving a pass from Amenyido and curling an equally fine effort into the top-left corner to send the Millerntor into raptures at the end of another festival of football.

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith, Mets - Saliakas (Treu 90’+1), Hartel (Boukhalfa 90’+1), Irvine, Ritzka – Afolayan (Metcalfe 64’), Eggestein (Albers 80’), Saad (Amenyido 80’)

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

FC Nürnberg

Mathenia - Gyamerah, Marquez, Gürleyen, Handwerker (Brown 61’) - Flick - Goller (Uzun 61’), Duman (Schleimer 46’), Møller Dæhli (Geis 82’), Okunuki - Lohkemper (Daferner 76’)

Head coach: Christian Fiél

Goals: 1-0 Saad (4’), 1-1 Okunuki (23’), 2-1 Eggestein (49’), 3-1 Eggestein (56’)

Yellow cards: Smith, Afolayan, Ritzka, Irvine – Handwerker

Referee: Dr Matthias Jöllenbeck (Freiburg)

Attendance: 29,546 (sold out)