FC St. Pauli

Markus Kauczinski's side returned from the international break determined to secure a big three points at home against SV Sandhausen. Morocco international Aziz Bouhaddouz returned to the starting lineup in place of Dimitrios Diamantakos after coming on from the bench to open the scoring from the spot in the 1-1 draw at Kaiserslautern last time out. Jeremy Dudziak and Mats Møller Dæhli also came into the side for Richard Neudecker and the injured Bernd Nehrig (muscle tear), while Christopher Buchtmann and Lasse Sobiech took their places on the bench on their return to full fitness.

The visitors made the better start to the proceedings. Confronted by a solid Sandhausen rearguard, Kauczinski's team worked hard to play their way into the danger area but lacked the final ball. And so it was the visitors, with their intelligent counterattacking play, who fashioned the most promising openings early on. Daniel Buballa had to stick out a heel to deflect a Manuel Stiefler effort out for a corner in the third minute before Robin Himmelmann raced out of his goal to smother Julian Derstroff's shot on 12 and Philipp Förster's attempt clipped the crossbar on its way out ten minutes later.

While the Boys in Brown were by no means inferior, they rarely threatened the Sandhausen goal in the opening exchanges. All that changed just after the midway point, however, when Møller Dæhli angled in a shot from the left and Sami Allagui diverted the ball over the line from close range. Seemingly unfazed on falling behind, Sandhausen continued to push forward and carved out another two chances for Rúrik Gislason, whose efforts thankfully lacked accuracy.

Man of the first half Sami Allagui gave his side the lead.

Gíslason finally got his goal nine minutes into the second half when the Boys in Brown failed to clear their lines, allowing Tim Knipping to square the ball to the Iceland midfielder, who had no trouble finding the net from close range. The Boys in Brown were obviously desperate to take all three points at home and looked to hit back immediately. With an hour gone, Buballa found Bouhaddouz with a cross, and his looping header had keeper Marcel Schuhen chasing back towards goal to pluck the ball out of the air before it could cross the line.

Five minutes later it was Bouhaddouz against Schuhen again when Allagui went down in the box after being clipped by Markus Karl and referee Alexander Sather pointed to the spot. Yet the Sandhausen custodian came out on top a second time, diving to his left to keep out the striker's penalty. The game was a more heated affair after that and both teams had chances to win it. Substitute Richy Neudecker almost took Schuhen by surprise with a fine long-range effort five minutes from time, but the ball came down on top of the net and the Boys in Brown had to settle for a share of the spoils. 

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann – Park, Ziereis, Avevor, Buballa – Flum, Dudziak - Møller Dæhli (Neudecker 69'), Allagui (Schneider 86') Sahin (Buchtmann 75') - Bouhaddouz

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

SV Sandhausen

Schuhen – Stiefler, Karl, Knipping – Paqarada – Kulovits (Jansen 75') – Daghfous (Aygünes 90'+1), Linsmayer, Förster, Derstroff (Wooten 65') - Gislason

Head coach: Kenan Kocak

Goals: 1-0 Allagui (26'), 1-1 Gíslason (54')

Yellow cards: Park, Dudziak – Karl, Linsmayer

Referee: Alexander Sather

Attendance: 29,381

Photos: Witters