FC St. Pauli

After the 4-0 reverse at Greuther Fürth the Boys in Brown were determined to put that performance behind them and show a different face against Arminia Bielefeld. Head coach Olaf Janßen made four changes to his starting lineup, Johannes Flum slotting into defensive midfield alongside Christopher Buchtmann for the suspended Bernd Nehrig, while Waldemar Sobota, Mats Møller Dæhli and Jan-Marc Schneider came in for Maurice Litka, Aziz Bouhaddouz and Sami Allagui. For Schneider it was his first senior start after eight appearances as a substitute (one goal). Bielefeld boss Jeff Saibene fielded the same team that won 2-0 at FC Kaiserslautern last time out.

With the temperature hovering just above freezing at the SchücoArena, the Boys in Brown made a bright start and carved out three openings early on. Cenk Sahin threaded a lovely pass through for Møller Dæhli, but Bielefeld keeper Stefan Ortega was a shade quicker to the ball. Sahin was in the action again soon after, this time with a low ball into the box from the left towards Sobota, only for Florian Hartherz to get a decisive touch on it. Seconds later Møller Dæhli fed Schneider, for whom the angle proved too tight.

The home side, for their part, struggled to find a way through the solid St. Pauli rearguard aside from set pieces. It therefore came as something of a surprise when Fabian Klos stole the ball off Avevor and pulled the trigger from outside the box. Daniel Buballa did his best to put him off, however, and the ball flew well wide of the left-hand upright as a result. Two minutes later Klos threatened again from a corner. This time his header drifted past the other post.

Bielefeld were in the ascendency and soon created more chances. Andreas Voglsammer was denied by Robin Himmelmann from the inside-left channel and then Leandro Putaro's glancing header missed the far post by a whisker. Christopher Buchtmann eased the pressure momentarily when he won possession and spread the ball wide to Møller Dæhli, whose whipped-in cross found Schneider – his header flew well off target, however.

After a 15-minute lull in the action Arminia struck in clinical fashion when Konstantin Kerschbaumer slipped the ball inside to Putaro, who was given time to rifle a shot into the bottom right-hand corner from just outside the box. At the other end Buchtmann tried his luck from distance. The midfielder is our most prolific player this season with four goals to date, but he didn't make a proper contact and the ball flew well off target. Then, on the stroke of half-time, it seemed that Christopher Avevor had notched the hoped-for equaliser when Ortega could only parry Buchtmann's shot and the defender netted from close range, only for the effort to be ruled out, correctly, for offside. After a much improved first-half performance, marred only by one lapse in concentration in defence, the Boys in Brown went in at half-time a goal down.

Christopher Avevor's joy was short-lived. Instead of going in level, the Boys in Brown trailed by the only goal at the break.

Both sides came back out unchanged and it was Olaf Janßen's side who fashioned the first chance of the half. Luca Zander's cross to the far post found Flum, who lofted the ball back across goal to Schneider, but he couldn't keep his header down and the ball just cleared the crossbar. The home side soon took control of the proceedings, however, and when the Boys in Brown failed to clear their lines on 50 minutes, Putaro unleashed a shot from the edge of the box. Fortunately, his effort proved no problem for Himmelmann.

There was nothing the keeper could do three minutes, however, after another wayward pass resulted in a corner for the home side. Lasse Sobiech headed the ball out of the danger area but it fell straight to Florian Dick, who drilled a spectacular first-time effort through a crowded penalty box and into the top-right corner.

Bielefeld were proving incredibly effective and just after the hour they added a third when an FCSP corner broke down. Hartherz stormed forward from the halfway line and forced his way past Sahin's challenge on the edge of the box before slotting into the net despite the best efforts of Daniel Buballa and Avevor.

With the advantage of a three-goal lead, Bielefeld adopted a slightly deeper back line. Nevertheless, next to no gaps opened up for Janßen's side to exploit. Sobiech did force an excellent save from Ortega following a corner but the home side again broke quickly and Prietl showed good vision to find Kerschbaumer at the far post. He steered the ball past Himmelmann to make it 4-0, a scoreline few would have predicted during the interval.

And it was to get even worse. Klos was left in criminal amounts of space from a cross by Dick, allowing him to head a fifth goal off the post. Maurice Litka then saw a shot blocked and Klos directed a shot wide right of the goal before the referee blew the final whistle to bring a bitterly disappointing evening to an end.

Arminia Bielefeld

Ortega - Dick, Börner, Salger, Hartherz - Kerschbaumer (Hemlein 81'), Prietl, Schütz (Massimo 83'), Putaro (Weihrauch 68') - Klos, Voglsammer

Head coach: Jeff Saibene

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Zander, Sobiech, Avevor, Buballa - Flum, Buchtmann - Sobota (Bouhaddouz 59'), Møller Dæhli, Sahin (Litka 78') - Schneider

Head coach: Olaf Janßen

Goals: 1-0 Putaro (38'), 2-0 Dick (53'), 3-0 Hartherz (62'), 4-0 Kerschbaumer (77'), 5-0 Klos (85')

Yellow cards: Börner

Referee: Robert Kempter

Attendance: 22,826

Photos: Witters