KNOLL SEALS COMEBACK WIN AT MAGDEBURG
Sunday, 05. August 2018, 16:43 Uhr
St. Pauli opened their league account with a 2-1 win at newly promoted Magdeburg on Sunday afternoon. The home side made the better start and took a 16th minute lead through Christian Beck, but the Boys in Brown held their nerve and came back with goals from Christopher Buchtmann on 29 and Marvin Knoll nine minutes from time.
Head coach Markus Kauczinski named the same eleven players who started against Stoke City in the successful dress rehearsal last week. He also kept faith in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with new recruit Marvin Knoll in defensive midfield and Sami Allagui as the lone striker.
In a high-intensity start the home side registered the first opportunity of the game in the third minute. Robin Himmelmann was alert to the danger, however, and rushed out of his goal to make the block. That was the only chance of note in the opening quarter of an hour until Magdeburg took the lead somewhat out of the blue when Philipp Ziereis misjudged an upfield clearance, allowing Beck to exploit the space and produce a clinical finish into the bottom corner. To make matters worse, the match officials overlooked the fact that Beck was narrowly offside when the ball was headed forward.
After that, the home side were content to surrender possession to the Boys in Brown, who for their part took a while to find their feet again. But in the 29th minute a brief spell of pressure in and around the Magdeburg box ended with the ball falling for Christopher Buchtmann following some good work by Luca Zander, and the midfielder wasted no time hammering a shot into the far corner from 20 metres to level the scores.
Mats Møller Dæhli could then have made it two a few minutes later, but under pressure from two defenders he was unable to get enough power on his shot to trouble goalkeeper Jasmin Fejzic. Markus Kauczinski's side ended the half the stronger, but a one-off long-range effort from Buchtmann that missed the target by some distance was all they could muster in this phase.
After a reasonably even first period neither coach saw any reason to make a change. Once again, both sides began cautiously, reluctant to commit too many men forward. It thus took until the 62nd minute for another chance to be created, Rico Preissinger shooting well off target from the edge of the area. At the other end Fejzic was called into action to defuse another distance effort from Buchtmann.
In the ensuing period a sell-out crowd of 24,156 continued to see a contest in which the home side handed the initiative to the Boys in Brown while waiting for a chance to break. Little wonder, then, that goalscoring opportunities remained a rarity. Markus Kauczinski responded by introducing Richard Neudecker and Dimitrios Diamantakos for Buchtmann and Allagui. And with nine minutes left, the writing was on the wall for Magdeburg when Waldemar Sobota won a free-kick just outside the box and Marvin Knoll stepped up to take it. The former Regensburg man struck it perfectly, and Fejzic could only look on as the ball curled into the top right corner of the net. Two-one!
In the fifth minutes of time added on Philip Türpitz had an opportunity to restore parity from a similar position, but his free-kick was placed too high. Seconds later, the referee blew for full-time to cap a successful start to the 2018/19 season for the Boys in Brown.
FC Magdeburg
Fejzic - Butzen, Müller, Schäfer, Niemeyer - Rother, Ignjovski (Weil 84') - Türpitz, Preissinger (Lohkemper 84'), Costly (Bülter 78') - Beck
Head coach: Jens Härtel
FC St. Pauli
Himmelmann - Zander, Ziereis, Avevor, Buballa - Knoll - Sobota, Flum, Buchtmann (Neudecker 75'), Møller Dæhli (Nehrig 90'+1), Allagui (Diamantakos 78')
Head coach: Markus Kauczinski
Goals: 1-0 Beck (16'), 1-1 Buchtmann (29'), 1-2 Knoll (81')
Yellow cards: Flum
Referee: Frank Willenborg
Attendance: 24,156 (sold out)
Photos: Witters
