FC St. Pauli

Timo Schultz on...

…the injury situation: "I have justified hopes that Tore Reginiussen will be able to resume training today. I don't think James Lawrence will, though. He's still at home and hasn't been able to do any running yet, so it makes little sense to take him to Aue with us. Ryo Miyaichi isn't a candidate for the squad yet, nor is Eric Smith, who will train for the only the third time with the rest of the squad today. I'm glad I have plenty of alternatives if ever two or three regulars are sidelined. Adam Dźwigała is a good example who shows we can rely on the lads who haven't seen much playing time recently."

…the prolific trio of Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, Omar Marmoush and Guido Burgstaller: "They've scored 20 of our last 26 goals, which is some going. And you can add various assists to that because they've been teeing each other up as well. All three are in really good nick up front and have been a factor in our ascent up the table. I would have no objections to seeing one of our centre-backs head a goal from a corner, however, and that's the next step we have to take. Ultimately, finding alternative solutions when things aren't going so well for the three of them up front is a quality a team needs to have. We have enough potential to pose a goal threat from other positions. No player is banned from scoring. I'd like my defensive players to be more involved and get forward into the box, especially when we win possession. We have a lot of players with potential there. The ball will fall to you every so often if you're in the box. We have to show more hunger to score, but without taking any risks because we want to keep defending our own goal as well as we have been doing recently."

…opponents Aue and our poor record there: "Aue are an established force in the second division and have a lot of experience in their ranks. In Pascal Testroet and Florian Krüger, they have an outstanding strike pairing who are among the best in the league. We'll have to keep an eye on all their players, though Testroet and Krüger have played a bigger role in our preparations in view of the need to prevent Aue from scoring. They also have an outstanding goalkeeper in Martin Männel and a warhorse in Sören Gonther, who is very communicative and always urging his teammates on. We know they're a good team who are very solid and put good pressure on the ball. Most teams struggle when they go there, we've lost our last five, but this year we've proved we're capable of ending such runs. We go to Aue with the aim of taking all three points."

…the progress made: "In summer we started with a clear plan to bring the team on, cultivate a system and work hard on and off the pitch. We actually wanted to be further down the line in autumn and have a stable framework in place in the winter to allow us to pick up more points in the second half of the season than in the first. But we knew it would take time. Bochum and Fürth had well-oiled teams and coaches who knew their teams. That's a huge advantage, it puts you two steps ahead of the others. We made a bumpy start, but the performances were often OK in the first half of the season, we just weren't getting the results. In winter, we made two or three adjustments. The challenge we were faced with brought us closer together as a team. We had a bit of luck in some games, but we earned it. We can be proud of the fact that we came through the sticky patch, stuck to our guns, continued to work hard and kept our belief. The onus is on all of us here at the training ground to keep investing everything we have so we can say we've given our all and are on the right track. Our journey isn't over yet, we still have plenty of potential."

Photos: Witters