FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler made one change to the side that drew 1-1 with Wehen Wiesbaden before the five-week winter break, new recruit Aljoscha Kemlein coming in for captain Jackson Irvine, who like Connor Metcalfe is with Australia at the Asian Cup and will be away until at least the end of January. In Filip Kaloč, Kaiserslautern boss Dimitrios Grammozis fielded just one of his five winter signings.

The Boys in Brown came flying out of the traps and could and perhaps should have led by the fifth minute. Marcel Hartel headed a ball in from Kemlein over the top from seven metres with just 42 seconds gone, and then Manolis Saliakas was denied by FCK keeper Julian Krahl when clean through. The resulting corner fell to Philipp Treu, who pulled the trigger from range. His effort found its way Kemlein, and he fired just over on the turn. The visitors had their first opportunity through Marlon Ritter in the fifth minute following a wayward pass from Treu. His 20-metre effort with the outside of his foot produced a brilliant save from Nikola Vasilj as he turned the ball over the top.

A lull in the play followed and the fans were silent throughout the opening 12 minutes, too, in protest over December's decision by the German Football League to allow investors into the game. Play was also interrupted briefly when the home support threw chocolate coins onto the pitch. In the ensuing period the Boys in Brown controlled the proceedings without making serious headway into the FCK box. The visitors held a deep line and closed down the space and offered nothing in attack after Ritter's opening salvo, but for all their efforts the Hürzeler XI lacked the ideas to unlock the packed Lautern defence.

The home side continued to press and finally broke the deadlock with just over half an hour gone when the visitors were unable to deal with a long ball forward by Hauke Wahl. Kemlein won possession just outside the box and slipped a pass to Hartel, who picked out Saad in the box. The Tunisia international kept his cool with just Krahl to beat and placed the ball beyond the FCK keeper into the far corner to open the scoring. The same player could have made it two just before the interval, but his shot was blocked on the line by Almamy Touré. At the other end, Ritter went for the top corner with a 30-metre free-kick, but Vasilj was on hand to make the save. Eric Smith was then denied by Krahl from distance on the stroke of half-time.

New signing Aljoscha Kemlein (here under challenge from Kaiserslautern's Jan Elvedi) repeatedly pushed forward and won a decisive ball to set up Elias Saad's opening goal.

Both sides emerged unchanged for the second period. After three draws in a row before the winter break, the task for the Boys in Brown was to stay solid at the back and look to add a second goal up front. That could have come from Hartel four minutes in, but his piledriver from just outside the area was too centrally placed and Krahl had little trouble making the save. Then, on 52, the visitors fashioned an incredible quadruple chance at the other end when Ritter hammered a 25-metre free-kick against the left-hand upright. Touré rattled the crossbar from close range on the rebound before Saliakas headed Elvedi's effort off the line and Richmond Tachie finally bundled the ball over the top. A couple of minutes later, Elvedi and Touré both went close from a corner.

The home crowd let out a collective sigh of relief and then saw their team twice come within a whisker of doubling their advantage when Oladapo Afolayan hit the right-hand post from just inside the box and Hartel directed a shot narrowly the wrong side of the other post from 16 metres. Boris Tomiak came close to putting through his own net when attempting to defuse a whipped-in cross from Afolayan soon after, and from the resulting corner Treu screwed a shot wide from distance. Grammozis then made a double substitution, throwing on Ragnar Ache and Ba-Muaka Simakala for Daniel Hanslik and Tobias Raschl, but they could only look on as the Hürzeler XI finally extended their lead on 64. The ball found its way to Eggestein in the box via Saad and Kemlein, and though his shot was blocked, Hartel was perfectly placed to slot the rebound into the bottom-left corner.

Saad and Eggestein then had a number of opportunities to put the game to bed in quick succession. Latching onto a long ball from Eggestein, Saad left Touré for dead with a quick turn inside, only to place his shot just past the right-hand post. Eggestein fired into the side-netting from the right channel two minutes later before Saad was denied by Krahl following a long upfield ball from Vasilj. The Hürzeler XI showed no let-up and continued to dictate the play to such an extent that the visitors were unable to find their way back into the game, though Tachie did find space on the right in the 81^st minute, prompting Wahl to dive in at the last second to make the block.

Hürzeler made a double switch for the last six minutes, introducing Maurides and Etienne Amenyido for Oladapo Afolayan and Johannes Eggestein. Hartel then popped up unmarked in front of Krahl but was unable to get the better of him from the left channel. And that was that. The Boys in Brown returned to the top of the table with an excellent team performance in which only the shot conversion rate left something to be desired.

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith, Mets - Saliakas (Ritzka 90'), Kemlein (Dźwigała 90'+2), Hartel, Treu - Afolayan (Amenyido 84'), Eggestein (Maurides 84'), Saad (Boukhalfa 90')

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

FC Kaiserslautern

Krahl - Zimmer, Touré, Tomiak, Elvedi - Raschl (Simakala 63'), Kaloč, Ritter (Opoku 81'), Puchacz (Redondo 81') - Tachie, Hanslik (Ache 63')

Head coach: Dimitrios Grammozis

Goals: 1-0 Saad (34'), 2-0 Hartel (64')

Yellow cards: Smith, Treu, Wahl – Ritter

Referee: Tobias Welz (Wiesbaden)

Attendance: 29,546 (sold out)

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters