FC St. Pauli

Last week's reverse at Darmstadt was not the start Markus Kauczinski's side had been hoping for. A goal to the good going into the last ten minutes, they conceded twice in the closing stages to slip to their first defeat in three months. Only one other team has come from behind to beat the Boys in Brown this season, and that was Cologne, who last week were on the wrong end of a 2-0 defeat against our next opponents. That win, their fourth on the bounce at home, saw the Berlin outfit leapfrog us into third place.

The Boys in Brown will be out to reclaim the play-off spot on Monday, of course. After taking the lead with their first chance at Darmstadt, they squandered some decent opportunities to score the important second goal and were eventually made to pay for their profligacy. Efficiency in front of goal will be a crucial factor against Union, given that Urs Fischer's side are not known for offering their opponents many chances. Just 15 goals against and 67 opposition attempts on goal in 19 matches are testimony to their defensive solidity.

Breaching the Union rearguard will be one challenge for the Boys in Brown, beating them another. The Berliners have lost just one game all season, a resounding 3-0 defeat at Erzgebirge Aue in the final game before the winter break. Despite that setback, this Union side is the best ever, having collected 34 points from the first 19 games (32 points in 2016/17 was their previous best). So if the Boys in Brown are to make amends for Darmstadt, they will have to avoid the individual errors that cost them so dearly in the 4-1 drubbing in the reverse fixture, when two first-half goals conceded from throw-ins set them on the road to defeat.

Long-term absentees Philipp Ziereis and Henk Veerman have been joined on the injury list by Dimitrios Diamantakos, while Jeremy Dudziak is a doubt as the Boys in Brown bid to end a winless run of eight games against Union stretching back to October 2014. The visitors will be without full-backs Ken Reichel and Christopher Trimmel, who are serving one-match bans, while a question-mark remains over the fitness of forward Sebastian Polter.

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Info for anyone planning to travel to the Millerntor using the underground line U3: due to construction work on the track no trains will run between the stations Rathaus and Berliner Tor up to and including Sunday, 24 February. A rail replacement service will be in operation during this time. This means the home games against Erzgebirge Aue on Saturday, 16 February, and FC Ingolstadt on Saturday, 23 February, will also be affected by the restrictions.

Photos: Witters