FC St. Pauli

Alexander Blessin fielded two different teams on his touchline premiere against Bremer SV. The 51-year-old head coach went into the game without three goalkeepers in Nikola Vasilj, Sascha Burchert and Sören Ahlers, as well as Manolis Saliakas, Philipp Treu, Simon Zoller and Maurides. New recruit Ben Voll, who joined the club from Viktoria Köln, made his debut in goal.

Bremer SV kick off the new Regionalliga season in two weeks' time and have already contested three friendlies. And it was they who fashioned the first big chance of the game in front of a crowd of just over 1,000. Nikky Goguadze, who grabbed both goals in the 2-1 away win over our Under-23s in early May, broke clear down the left and was denied by a fine reaction save from Voll, who turned the ball away off the inside of the post. Blessin was then forced into an early change when Jackson Irvine left the field with a bandaged left foot in the eighth minute to be replaced by new signing Robert Wagner. Two minutes later, Johannes Eggestein notched the first goal of the 2024/25 campaign, latching onto a long ball from Adam Dźwigała and shooting past BSV keeper Tobias Duffner from the edge of the box.

In the ensuing period there was little in the way of action in either penalty box but no lack of intensity either. Midway through the first half, however, the Bremen outfit levelled the scores when Goguadze rifled a shot beyond Voll into the bottom left corner. And though the Boys in Brown had more of the play from then on, a lack of precision with the final ball prevented them from restoring their advantage. Scott Banks tried his luck on the stroke of half-time, but Duffner produced a fine save.

Jackson Irvine (here under challenge from Justin Gröger) was forced off after just eight minutes.

Blessin rang the changes for the second period, with only Voll and early substitute Wagner resuming. Another change followed some ten minutes in, Under-19 midfielder Marwin Schmitz replacing Eric Smith in a precautionary measure. It remained a game low on highlights, hard-fought but with no chances worthy of note.

Midway through the half the Boys in Brown upped the pressure and began to find a way through the opposition ranks. With 64 minutes gone, Danel Sinani fed Oladapo Afolayan, who wrongfooted his marker in the box only to be denied by another good stop from Duffner. A couple of minutes later a deep ball in from Lars Ritzka smacked against the crossbar, and then Luca Günther delivered a cross into the middle for Sinani to net with a perfectly placed header.

It remained a high-intensity affair in the closing stages, with the Boys in Brown looking to put the game to bed with a third goal and the opposition pressing very early in a bid to conjure up another equaliser. Their efforts were to prove in vain, however, and Andreas Albers settled it four minutes from time with a header that went in off both posts. That was the last of the action, and a hard-fought encounter ended 3-1 to the Blessin XI.

Alxander Blessin: "After a tough week I wasn't bothered about the result. We had phases with more possession but didn't do a lot with it and Bremen had an easy job defending our diagonal balls into their backline. We had a couple of good chances when we switched the play quickly and a couple of good moments when we won possession well. We'll talk about how we conclude situations over the next two weeks and look at today's game in more detail on Tuesday. It was a good finish to the first week."

On the injuries to Jackson Irvine and Eric Smith, he added: "Jackson dislocated his toe, which is really painful, but he's a tough lad and can be back soon with it taped up. Eric felt a twinge, but not enough to say it's a rupture. He knows his body very well. We're quite clear that as soon as a player feels a niggle, we'll take him off straightaway."

FC St. Pauli

1^st half: Voll - Dźwigała, Wahl, Mets - Schmitz, Irvine (Wagner 8'), Boukhalfa, Ahlstrand - Banks, Eggestein, Saad

2^nd half: Voll - Nemeth, Smith (Schmitz 56'), Dahaba - Günther, Wagner, Metcalfe, Ritzka - Sinani, Albers, Afolayan

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Bremer SV

Starting lineup: Duffner - Gröger, Miyamoto, Faltyn, Kühl, Kleiner, Diedhiou, Schütt, Warm, Goguadze, Kasper

Head coach: Sebastian Kmieć

Goals: 1-0 Eggestein (10'), 1-1 Goguadze (25'). 2-1 Sinani (71'), 3-1 Albers (86')

Referee: Konrad Oldhafer (Hamburg)

Attendance: approx. 1,200

Photos: Witters