FC St. Pauli

It had been more than eight years since the last visit by our local rivals to the Millerntor. And with the excitement levels steadily rising throughout the week, head coach Markus Kauczinski had no easy task finding the right selection for this special encounter. He eventually made three changes to the side that won 1-0 at SC Paderborn last week, Christopher Buchtmann, Richard Neudecker and Sami Allagui all coming into the starting lineup.

The visitors seized the initiative in the opening stages, with the Boys in Brown content to sit back and wait for a chance to strike on the break. As a result, the two sides largely cancelled each other out early on, and most of the action unfolded in midfield. The first moment of danger came from the team in red shorts in the 21^st minute, when Robin Himmelmann had to turn a cross round the post after it took a deflection off Jan-Philipp Kalla. Otherwise, Hannes Wolf's side struggled to find a way through the compact brown-and-white rearguard.

At the other end, Alex Meier went very close to opening the scoring on 28 minutes. A cross from Richard Neudecker was only half-cleared by Rick van Drongelen and the header fell straight to Meier, who launched a first-time volley just past the upright from 30 metres. Instead, the net was left bulging at the other end four minutes later. Aaron Hunt's free-kick smacked back off the crossbar and Pierre-Michel Lasogga headed the rebound past Himmelmann into the net.

In a hard-fought first half Pierre-Michel Lasogga gave the visitors the lead on 32 minutes.

The Boys in Brown needed to step up a gear in the second half and that's exactly what they did. Ryo Miyaichi forced a brilliant save from Pollersbeck with a rasping drive with just 30 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, the luck was with the visitors on this afternoon. Orel Mangala fed Berkay Özcan, whose shot was parried by Himmelmann, only for the rebound to fall perfectly for Khaled Narey, and he made no mistake from eight metres. At the other end, Gotoku Sakai somehow scooped a Sami Allagui effort off the line and over the bar just two minutes later.

Stung by the second goal, the Boys in Brown soon found themselves three down. A cross by Bakery Jatta was only half-cleared and again the ball fell kindly for the visitors. Lasogga reacted quickly and bundled the ball over the line from close range. At the other end, Pollersbeck was forced into another smart save, this time by Kalla, and Alex Meier missed by a whisker with another effort from outside the box. Jatta rattled the woodwork for the visitors on 76 and then referee Brych elected to take the players off the pitch in response to the repeated use of pyrotechnics in the stands. When the action resumed, Douglas Santos rounded off the proceedings with a fourth goal for Hannes Wolf's side two minutes before the end of normal time.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Kalla, Avevor, Hoogma, Buballa – Buchtmann, Knoll (Flum 85') – Miyaichi, Allagui (Schneider 62'), Neudecker (Sobota 73') – Alex Meier

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

HSV

Pollersbeck – Sakai, Bates, van Drongelen, Douglas Santos – Mangala (Jung 90'+1), Janjicic – Narey, Hunt (Jatta 45'), Özcan (Holtby 81') - Lasogga

Head coach: Hannes Wolf

Goals: 0-1 Lasogga (32'), 0-2 Narey (52'), 0-3 Lasogga (61'), 0-4 Douglas Santos (88')

Yellow cards: --

Referee: Dr Felix Brych

Attendance: 29,226 (sold out)

Photos: Witters