FC St. Pauli

A fresh breeze and temperatures around freezing. It was all set up for a battle for three important points. Head coach Jos Luhukay made several, in part forced, changes to the side that faced SSV Jahn Regensburg last week. Marvin Knoll came in for the suspended Philipp Ziereis in defence. He was replaced in holding midfield by Christopher Buchtmann. Finn Ole Becker started alongside him. Sebastian Ohlsson played at left-back in a reshuffled back four in place of James Lawrence. Victor Gyökeres started in place of Mert Kuyucu who dropped down to the bench.

The visitors started with a back five as they looked to play on the break. Knoll showed how to breach that defence five minutes into the game. His chipped pass to Gyökeres was inch-perfect and the Swede controlled the ball with his chest. Unfortunately his cross did not find any takers and Wiesbaden were able to clear but the approach was unmistakable. Break through at a quick tempo.

And that's exactly what Luca Zander, Waldemar Sobota, Henk Veerman and Finn Rebecca did as they put together an impressive move in the Wiesbaden half. It ended with Becker trying his luck from the edge of the box. Goalkeeper Heinz Lindner parried the ball but unfortunately to the feet of a Wehen defender (7'). It took 11 minutes before Becker then tried with his left foot. This time Lindner held onto the ball (18').

Shortly after that Lindner was finally beaten. A misplaced clearance from Wiesbaden put Gyökeres on the ball on the left side of the penalty area. He dummied the first defender and then fired in a shot. The ball was deflected by an approaching defender into the net at the near post. There was sheer jubilation in front of the North Stand and goalkeeping coach Matze Hain raced to the other side the pitch to share his joy with the fans (21'). The Boys in Brown kept up the pressure after the opening goal. Veerman almost made it 2-0 with a header from a Buchtmann corner but his effort went just wide of the far post (31').

Waldemar Sobota also put a shot just wide of the target. That was preceded by brilliant interpassing between Ryo Miyaichi and Veerman who put our speedy winger through. Miyaichi crossed to Sobota but the skipper was unable to double the lead for the Boys in Brown (40'). That meant St Pauli went in 1-0 up at half-time.

Battled and worked hard on his return: Christopher Buchtmann

There were no changes to either side for the start of the second half. And the match continued in the same vein. St Pauli had more of the game while the visitors relied on packing their defence. In spite of the apparent superiority, it was the visitors who had the first chance in the second 45. After some confusion in Robin Himmelmann's penalty area the ball ended up with Titsch Rivero. The Wiesbaden player shot with his second touch of the ball. Leo Østigard threw himself in front of the shot. That took the pace out of it and Himmelmann was able to hold on to the ball (53').

Himmelmann then made a brilliant save. A diagonal ball found Stefan Aigner unmarked in front of our keeper. The Wehen stalwart hit a low shot to the far corner of the net but Himmelmann stuck out a leg in a flash and blocked the effort (57').

However, our keeper was left stranded on 70 minutes. An unsuccessful attempt to clear from Knoll ended up with the ball at the feet of Wehen's top goalscorer Manuel Schäffler. After being almost anonymous in the game, Schäffler slotted the ball into the corner of the net to level at 1-1. A blow as this goal did not seem likely even with the chance for Aigner. The Boys in Brown needed a couple of minutes pull themselves together. The first opportunity for us came on 84 minutes with a fine individual effort from Zander. But his shot to the near post did not test Lindner.

Shortly after that, the Millerntor crowd celebrated again. A great switch from Becker to Gyökeres saw the latter put Veerman through. The striker did well carrying the ball and he brought the Millerntor to life with a toe-poke to restore the lead (87'). And just as SV Wehen Wiesbaden attempted to mount a final attack, it was Gyökeres who put the icing on the cake. A counter-attack involving Sobota and substitute Kevin Lankford ended with Gyökeres scoring to allow the Millerntor faithful to breathe a collective sigh of relief (90'). Then came the final whistle and massive celebrations.

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Zander, Østigard, Knoll, Ohlsson (Kuyucu 61') – Becker, Buchtmann (Benatelli 61') – Miyaichi (Lankford 75’), Sobota, Gyökeres – Veerman

Head coach: Jos Luhukay

SV Wehen Wiesbaden

Lindner – Ajani, Mockenhaupt, Dams, Chato, Drittgen - Mrowca, Kyereh, Titsch Rivero (Knöll 62'), Aigner (Shipnoski 69') – Schäffler  

Head coach: Rüdiger Rehm

Goals: 1-0 Gyökeres (21’), 1-1 Schäffler (70’), 2-1 Veerman (87’), 3-1 Gyökeres (90’)

Booked:  / Titsch Rivero, Schäffler

Referee: Robert Kempter

Attendance: 29,211

Photos: Witters