FC St. Pauli

Head coach Jos Luhukay had to manage without his two new signings, as both Boris Tashchy (thigh strain) and Rico Benatelli (muscle trouble) had to fly back to Hamburg for treatment today.

With Ingolstadt pressing early, the Boys in Brown struggled to find any rhythm in the opening stages. Björn Paulsen directed a header off target for the Bavarian outfit in the ninth minute and then Svend Brodersen defused a long-range effort from Maximilian Wolfram. The Boys in Brown fashioned their first big chance on 22 minutes, Dimitrios Diamantakos heading wide of the post from Daniel Buballa’s pinpoint cross.

After a brief downpour, Luis Coordes tried his luck from 20 metres, but his shot took a deflection and went wide. Coordes then turned provider, playing a one-two with Buballa before finding Diamantakos with a cross, but once again the header flew wide of the target. There was to be one more opportunity for Luhukay’s charges just before the break. Cenk Sahin collected the ball in the box and beat a defender before pulling the trigger, only for Ingolstadt keeper Marco Knaller to produce a fine save.

Luhukay made five changes for the second half, while his Ingolstadt counterpart Jeff Saibene introduced ten new outfield players. The first chance fell to the Boys in Brown following some nice link-up play by Coordes and Becker. The ball arrived at Diamantakos, whose shot was deflected for a corner. Marvin Knoll took it quickly and found Ersin Zehir unmarked in the middle, and he headed in at the near post.

After Agyemang Diawusie had fired over for Ingolstadt on 59, Diamantakos made it 2-0 three minutes later, powering a shot into the net following another decent passing move. Luhukay then threw on six fresh players, including Florian Carstens, who stepped in smartly to deny Ingolstadt triallist Goran Karanovic at the last moment.

At the other end, the Boys in Brown produced another good move down the left. Aurel Loubongo M'Boungou delivered a cross to Kevin Lankford, who laid the ball off for Christopher Buchtmann. His shot from outside the box flew just over the crossbar. Buchtmann had another pop from range soon after and this time he was denied by Knaller. The keeper kept his side in it five minutes from time when he gathered a Lankford shot from 12 metres, but there was nothing he could do when Aurel Loubongo M'Boungou intercepted a loose square ball and beat the keeper with a clinical finish.

"After some hard work in training, I’m happy to see today’s game as the culmination of our efforts to improve our defensive and attacking play,” said Jo’s Luhukay afterwards. Not everything was good today, but there were some positive signs. We struggled to get going in the first 15 to 20 minutes. Our commitment and desire to press the ball and exert pressure is going in the right direction, however. In possession we had good phases where we moved the ball around with assurance at pace. We scored three nice goals that were all well-worked.”

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Lineup

1st half: Brodersen - Kalla, Avevor, Knoll, Buballa - Lee - Sahin, Møller Dæhli, Becker, Coordes - Diamantakos

2nd half: Himmelmann - Bednarczyk, Avevor (Carstens 64’), Knoll (Hornschuh 64’), Buballa (Park 64’) - Zehir - Conteh, Sobota, Becker (Buchtmann 64’), Coordes (Loubongo M'Boungou 64’) - Diamantakos (Lankford 64’)

Goals: 1-0 Zehir (53’), 2-0 Diamantakos (61’), 3-0 Loubongo M'Boungou (87’)

Photos: Witters