FC St. Pauli

A resolute FC St. Pauli side had their sights firmly set on a first win in six games against an in-form Braunschweig. They were boosted by the return of Jackson Irvine, who took the captain's armband after serving a one-match ban, and Igor Matanovic in attack. Carlo Boukhalfa and Johannes Eggestein dropped to the bench. As usual, the Boys in Brown had the backing of scores of travelling fans, many of whom had been forced to improvise by a wave of train cancellations in northern Germany and made the journey by car and bus instead.

After a quiet opening in which the Boys in Brown had more of the possession, head coach Timo Schultz was soon forced into a change of personnel when Irvine was unable to continue after a a clash of heads with Benkovic. Both players had to be treated for cuts and a short time later the St. Pauli skipper was on his way back to the dressing room. He was soon followed by David Nemeth, and Connor Metcalfe and Adam Dźwigała found themselves in the thick of things with just nine minutes gone. In the same minute, St. Pauli laid down their first marker in front of Jasmin Fejzić's goal when Marcel Hartel met a Manolis Saliakas cross first time at the back post, only to see his effort fly over the bar.

The home side came more into it in the ensuing period and began to edge the possession. Nevertheless, the game remained low on chances at both ends and Nikola Vasilj had no reason to intervene until the 34th minute after a foul by Afeez Aremu on Fabio Kaufmann. Brian Behrendt took the free-kick, and the keeper got his hands up just in time to push away the venomous dipping and curling ball. It remained a tepid affair until just before the interval when after some good passing play down the middle Eric Smith curled the ball in behind the defence. Marcel Ritzka burst into the penalty area from the left and attempted to dink the cross over the onrushing Fejicz. Unfortunately, the ball looped over the crossbar, and so it remained scoreless at the break.

Timo Schultz sent out an unchanged side for the second 45 and Matanovic had the first opportunity two minutes after the restart from a corner by Marcel Hartel, but his header came down on top of the goal at the back post. It was much closer in the 55th minute when Braunschweig broke quickly and Anthony Ujah beat Dźwigała on the halfway line to find himself clean through on goal. In a one-on-one with keeper Vasilj, however, the Braunschweig player knocked his shot against the post to leave it at 0-0.

That changed in the 68th minute when Saliakas was allowed to carry the ball forward unchallenged. He took aim from around 20 metres and smacked the ball in the top right-hand corner with a rocket that left keeper Fejicz no chance. A magnificent effort! The game became more heated after the goal and the tempo increased. Braunschweig put more into it and got their reward in the 77th minute when substitute Immanuel Pherai was perfectly placed to meet a low cross from the left and find the net to level the scores.

In the 81st minute, Smith put Hartel in a threatening position with a pinpoint pass through the centre. After a short dribble, the No10 pulled the trigger, but his shot flew just past the left-hand upright. Despite a late rally from the home side in the closing stages, the Boys in Brown had opportunities of their own to win it through Hartel and Lukas Daschner. But it was Braunschweig who landed the lucky punch. With the very last attack of the game, the ball found its way to Pherai in the penalty area and he wasted no time in making it 2-1. There was no time to restart the game and the game was lost.

Eintracht Braunschweig

Fejzić - De Medina, Behrendt, Benkovic - Marx (Multhaup 76'), Krause (Henning 69'), Nikolaou, Donkor, Kaufmann (Pherai 69') - Ujah, Lauberbach (Ihorst 76')

Head coach: Michael Schiele

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Saliakas, Nemeth (Dźwigała 9'), Medić, Ritzka (Zander 78') - Aremu (Fazliji 61'), Smith, Hartel, Irvine (Metcalfe 9') - Amenyido, Matanović (Daschner 61')

Head coach: Timo Schultz

Goals: 0-1 Saliakas (68'), 1-1 Pherai (77'), 2-1 Pherai (90'+3)

Yellow cards: Nikolaou, Krause - Aremu

Referee: Sascha Stegemann

Attendance: 21,000

Photos: Witters