FC St. Pauli

Eric Smith returned to the side for the opening game of the year against third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt after missing the 1-0 win at Stuttgart before Christmas. Lars Ritzka and Johannes Eggestein both failed late fitness tests, however, with Danel Sinani slotting into the central attacking position for the latter. Omar Marmoush, who it is reported is on the verge of a move to Manchester City, started for the visitors, who in Igor Matanović had another former St. Pauli player on the bench.

The atmosphere was electric when the game kicked off in glorious winter conditions and with just three minutes on the clock the visitors fashioned two chances within 20 seconds, Marmoush being denied both times by an alert Nikola Vasilj. Ellyes Shkiri was then left the space to rifle a shot well over the top from 20 metres. In the 11^th minute, Marmoush collected a pass from Mario Götze and fired over from a narrow angle, and another five minutes after that Rasmus Kristensen headed well wide from a Nathaniel Brown corner. The Boys in Brown were largely focused on defending in the opening stages but struggled going forward, with the visitors stifling their attacking efforts at every turn.

With 19 minutes gone, Hugo Ekitiké thought he had given his side the lead following a neat passing move, but he was narrowly offside when Hugo Larsson threaded the ball through. At the other end, the Blessin XI then came close to opening the scoring when Jackson Irvine chested a Philipp Treu throw-in into the path of Oladapo Afolayan and he burst down the left channel into the box before squaring the ball to Guilavogui. Under challenge from Nathaniel Brown, however, he got underneath it and scooped his shot over the bar. Frankfurt missed an even better chance four minutes later when Treu slid in to challenge Marmoush, knocking the ball from the right-hand side of the box into the middle to Ekitiké in the process. The Frenchman took the ball round Vasilj but had to readjust and ended up hitting the post with his shot from eight metres. The rebound fell to Marmoush, who put it wide with the goal gaping.

The visitors eventually took the lead a few minutes later. A long upfield pass found Hugo Larsson, and when David Nemeth was unable to deal with his low ball in, Marmoush collected it and, after hesitating briefly, smashed a shot beyond Vasilj into the top-left corner from nine metres. Marmoush, who wore the St. Pauli colours in the second half of the 2020/21 season, declined to celebrate the goal. Five minutes later, Sinani plucked up the courage to unleash a shot from just short of 30 metres out, but Kevin Trapp got both hands up to make the save. From the resulting corner, Irvine pinged a shot wide from seven metres. And after Vasilj had denied both Ekitiké and Marmoush, Carlo Boukhalfa came within a whisker of bagging the equaliser, striking a headed knockdown from Guilavogui against the right-hand post from 14 metres.

Carlo Boukhalfa (here under challenge from Robin Koch) came close to grabbing an equaliser just before the break.

Neither coach made a change at the break. The Boys in Brown had finished the first half in the ascendency and continued in the same vein. Six minutes in, Manolis Saliakas picked up a wayward pass just inside his own half and advanced upfield before unleashing a shot on goal from 25 metres, but Trapp got down quickly to keep it out of the bottom right corner. The resulting short corner found its way to Sinani, whose long-range effort flew off target. The Blessin XI continued to press and Guilavogui dispatched a cross to the unmarked Irvine by the penalty sport, but the Australian was unable to beat Trapp with the header.

It was now very much an evenly balanced contest in which the Boys in Brown would have been worth an equaliser. The ball just wouldn't go in. Then, in the 64^th minute, Eintracht switched the play quickly. The ball arrived at the feet of Larsson and his shot clipped the crossbar. Phew! Blessin made his first substitution midway through the half, introducing Noah Weißhaupt for Oladapo Afolayan. His charges continued to push forward in a bid to find an equaliser and Saliakas whipped a ball in on 72, only for Boukhalfa to shoot well wide of the target.

The Boys in Brown stepped up the pressure, with Eric Smith becoming more and more of an attacking presence. Blessin made a double switch as the contest entered the closing stages, new signing James Sands and Scott Banks coming on for Carlo Boukhalfa and Danel Sinani. And when a ball in from Weißhaupt evaded everyone on its way to the back post and the unmarked Banks, his close-range effort shaved the top of the crossbar on its way over to leave the home crowd pulling their hair out in frustration. Andreas Albers replaced David Nemeth just before the end of regulation time and though the Blessin XI threw everything at it in the six minutes of time added on, they could not find an equaliser.

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith, Nemeth (Albers 86') - Saliakas, Irvine, Boukhalfa (Sands 78'), Treu - Guilavogui, Sinani (Banks 78'), Afolayan (Weißhaupt 68')

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Eintracht Frankfurt

Trapp - Kristensen, Koch, Theate, Brown (Tuta 83') - Knauff, Larsson, Dahoud, Götze (Knauff 72') - Ekitiké (Højlund 72'), Marmoush (Matanović 86')

Head coach: Dino Toppmöller

Goal: 0-1 Marmoush (32')

Yellow cards: Németh (assistant coach ) – Koch, Collins

Referee: Harm Osmers (Hannover)

Attendance: 29,546 (sold out)

Photos: FC St. Pauli