FC St. Pauli

“We have a really good mentality in the team,“ said a jubilant Mats Møller Dæhli after the late victory at MSV Duisburg. Once again, Markus Kauczinski’s side had found a way to win the game in the closing stages. Substitute Sami Allagui’s goal took the Boys in Brown to 19 points and third place in the table, and they go into Sunday’s game looking to extend their unbeaten run against Kiel.

Last season St. Pauli were the only team to do the double over the high-flying Storks, whose dreams of promotion finally ended after a 4-1 aggregate defeat against VfL Wolfsburg in the play-offs. Johannes Flum got the only goal in a 1-0 win at Kiel, while goals from Richard Neudecker (2) and Christopher Avevor sealed a 3-2 victory at the Millerntor.

“Kiel haven’t started as well as they did last year, but they have a strong team who play decent football, so it won’t be any easier this season,” said Johannes Flum before the game against Tim Walter’s side, who have won just one of their last six league games, though they did take a late point off leaders Cologne in a 1-1 draw last week. Their away form, in particular, has been indifferent since the spectacular 3-0 win at HSV in early August, and they come to the Millerntor on the back of three defeats in a row on their travels.

Our home form, in comparison, has been really positive, with four wins out of five in Hamburg and six out of seven if you include last season. The lone defeat in that period was the 5-3 reverse against Cologne at the beginning of September. The Boys in Brown have achieved an impressive turnaround since losing four competitive games in succession, including that defeat against Cologne, and have taken 13 of a possible 15 points from their last five outings.

No team has picked up as many points in recent week as Kauczinski’s team, who, as Sami Allagui put it, are on the crest of a wave at the moment. The ride on that wave will hopefully continue against Holstein Kiel.

Photo: Witters