FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler: "Braunschweig were awkward opponents, as expected. The way they're playing at the moment, they're a genuine top side. They were extremely compact, switched the play quickly and have a certain physicality in their ranks from set pieces. You have to keep them away from your goal before anything else, which we were unable to do in certain phases. It was obvious we wouldn't have chances en masse against such compact opposition. We were patient. The longer the game went on, the more we got into the spaces we wanted. We eventually forced the goal and then had opportunities to add a second and calm things down. Our attacking elan was over with the red card, from then on it was about bringing defensive stability to the pitch, which we did very well. We were very solid at the back and gave nothing away. Huge compliments for the way we defended in the last 25 minutes. Seeing out a one-goal lead is part of the game sometimes. We know it wasn't our best performance, but we're pleased with the result."

Jackson Irvine: "It was hard work today against a very good Braunschweig team. I'm so proud of the way we fought and held our own. Tight wins like these are sometimes the best ones, when you see out a one-goal lead to the end and have to play for 25 minutes a man down. It was a hard 90 minutes for me today. We have a short week now but so far we've managed to keep a good balance and draw the right conclusions like we did after the defeat last week. We're all  totally focused and know where we have to improve. We all want to get better week in, week out. On Friday we have another big team and another big game in front of us at Kiel."

Hauke Wahl: "We played well in the first half. Braunschweig only threatened on the counter and from set pieces. In the second half there were two key moments, first the red card and then the double chance for me and Jacko. It was obvious we were going to suffer after the sending-off. We proved we can defend well a man short and we gave nothing away. That gives us confidence. Defensive stability is the foundation of our game. It's very important not to concede. Winning three or four nil is great, of course, but after a game like that you feel even happier. We now have a big game on Friday evening that we're looking forward to. It's a special one for me as well. Kiel is my former home. Playing away at the team in second is always special."

Daniel Scherning (Eintracht Braunschweig head coach): "Congratulations to St. Pauli on the win, which doesn't feel good for us. It was a decent performance from us all in all and yet I still have to be critical. We knew we'd have phases with little possession. We were solid at the back in the first half, we closed down the space and kept forcing St. Pauli to play the ball back. Where I have to be critical is that we didn't execute our counterattacks very well. We should have made much more of those situations. You saw the difference between the two teams in the first half. We should have gone one up through Helgason and then St. Pauli took the lead with their first really dangerous moment. We started well after the interval and kept going. We had the advantage after the red card but the 25 minutes weren't what I expect in terms of the way we play. We took the wrong decisions against a team content to sit back and failed to create any meaningful chances. Despite the quality of our opponents we aren't satisfied with what we got out of the game at the end of the day."

Photos: FC St. Pauli