FC St. Pauli

The Boys in Brown began the DFB Cup tie against Eintracht Norderstedt in perfect football weather at the Millerntor. Head coach Alexander Blessin made one change from the final warm-up game against Hellas Verona, David Nemeth coming in for Adam Dźwigała after recovering from an adductor problem.

Alex Blessin's charges seized the initiative from the off against a Norderstedt side who were content to sit back, moving the ball around nicely and constantly looking to get forward. An initial effort from Danel Sinani six minutes in was blocked, but moments later Joel Chima Fujita came within a whisker of opening the scoring with a shot that took a deflection and struck the outside of the left-hand upright. From the resulting corner, the ball came to Mathias Pereira Lage, whose cross found Hauke Wahl, and his header forced a good save from Eintracht keeper Lars Huxsohl. Four minutes later, Pereira Lage pulled a shot wide when looking good to score at the end of a quick passing move. Arkadiusz Pyrka then picked out Sinani, whose low drive flew straight to Huxsohl. The Boys in Brown went about their work very well as far as the penalty area but fell a bit short in terms of their finishing and the carving out of clear-out opportunities. 

Then, on 21 minutes, that elusive clear-cut chance to take the lead arrived following a wayward pass by Leo Bera. Sinani knocked the ball square to the unmarked Pereira Lage in the box, but our No28 was denied by a fine reaction save from Huxsohl. The Eintracht keeper then defused a couple of efforts from Sinani and Fujita before Moritz Frahm was a shade quicker to Louis Oppie's low ball in than Andréas Hountondji, who would have been left with a tap-in. With half an hour gone, then, it remained goalless despite stats such as 80 per cent possession and 12-0 attempts on goal. Pereira Lage could have changed that on 31, but once again he was unable to get the better of Huxsohl. Sixty seconds later, a David Nemeth header was blocked by Melvin Zimmer at the back post. The home fans must have thought the opening goal had arrived in the 35^th minute, but they were wrong, as Sinani's free-kick came back off the frame of the goal and Oppie's rebound effort was held by Huxsohl at the second attempt. Two minutes from the interval, Hountondji hit one over from ten metres after Oppie had fluffed a shot, leaving the two sides to go in goalless at the break.

Blessin declined to make any changes at the interval. For the visitors, Falk Gross replaced Melvin Zimmer. The pattern remained exactly the same on the pitch – Norderstedt sat back and packed the defence, while the Boys in Brown launched a wave of attacks. Hountondji and Sinani were both denied from promising positions by the impressive Huxsohl and a header from Wahl from a Pereira Lage cross fizzed just past the far post, prompting Blessin to make a double substitution on the hour. Manolis Saliakas and Oladapo Afolayan replaced Arkadiusz Pyrka and Andréas Hountondji.

In the 66^th minute, one of a host of corners found its way to Fujita, but under pressure and leaning back, he fired over from seven metres. Soon after, Huxsohl gathered a distance effort from Afolayan without too much trouble, and Fabian Grau got a late block in to deny James Sands. Wahl then hit one long to Oppie, but Huxsohl narrowed the angle to make the save. A goal was long overdue, but the Norderstedt keeper was having a blinder, and on 73 he produced perhaps his best save to that point to keep out a Sinani shot that was heading for the top left corner. When Huxsohl was beaten, as in the 82^nd minute by Pereira Lage from range, then the frame of the goal came to his rescue. The ball smashed against the underside of the crossbar and came down on the wrong side of the line from a St. Pauli perspective.

Norderstedt won their first corner of the contest six minutes from time, but Nikola Vasilj was on hand to collect Lukas Krüger's far-post header. Connor Metcalfe and Abdoulie Ceesay entered the fray for James Sands and Mathias Pereira Lage and the game went into time added on. In the first minute of the additional six, Ceesay could have won it with his first touch of the ball, but Huxsohl pulled off another excellent save and the game went into extra-time.

Incredibly, Norderstedt almost took the lead just 20 seconds after the restart when Manuel Brendel fired narrowly over from 14 metres. At the other end, Ceesay dragged an effort off target from Metcalfe's assist. Metcalfe then teed up Sinani with an inch-perfect pass, but his shot was blocked by Abdul-Malik Yago with Huxsohl beaten and Afolayan's rebound effort was also charged down, as was a Nemeth shot a few minutes later.

The Boys in Brown continued to press in the second half of extra-time, but apart from a Ceesay header that was too high, they had nothing to show for it. Lars Ritzka replaced Eric Smith in the 112^th minute and Norderstedt continued to sit back but now looked to launch the odd counterthrust. Gross found space on the edge of the area and went for the corner, but Vasilj got down to his right to make the save. Ceesay then saw a looping header tipped over by Huxsohl, and with seconds left to go Vasilj did brilliantly to deny Ampofo, meaning a penalty shootout was needed to separate the two sides.

Hauke Wahl stepped up to take the first, Huxsohl made the save. Norderstedt's Philipp Koch put his penalty over the bar, and Fujita was also denied by Huxsohl with a shot down the middle, but the keeper was off his line and the kick had to be retaken. Fujita respotted the ball, only to hit the post. Incredible stuff. Frahm gave Norderstedt the lead, Oppie drew the Boys in Brown level. Next, Brendel saw his spot-kick strike the underside of the bar and from there the ball came down on the line. Three penalties taken, one-one. Sinani converted into the bottom right corner to put his team in front for the first time, but Gross levelled with aplomb. Nemeth took the fifth penalty, scoring with a shot into the bottom right corner. That meant Behounek had to score, but he was denied by Vasilj, who guessed right to save a penalty hit straight down the middle.

Eintracht Norderstedt

Huxsohl - Grau, Frahm, Yago - Gutmann (Koch 120'), Obushnyi, Behounek, Bera (Kummerfeld 69') - Zimmer (Gross 46') - Krüger (Brendel 91'), Drinkuth (Ampofo 69')

Head coach: Elard Ostermann

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith (Ritzka 112'), Nemeth - Pyrka (Saliakas 60'), Sands, Fujita, Oppie - Sinani (Metcalfe 90'), Pereira Lage (Ceesay 90') - Hountondji (Afolayan 60')

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Penalty shootout: Wahl misses, Koch misses, Fujita misses, Frahm scores, Oppie scores, Brendel misses, Sinani scores, Gross scores, Nemeth scores, Behounek misses

Yellow cards: Bera, Kummerfeld, Obushnyi, Yago

Referee: Eric Weisbach (Halle)

Attendance: 28,946

Photos: FC St. Pauli