FC St. Pauli

Just 24 hours after the warm-up match at Weiche Flensburg the Boys in Brown were in action again at Brøndby IF on Sunday. For the home side the game served as a dress rehearsal for the opening day of the new season, and they began with extra motivation and energy. Markus Kauczinski’s team gave as good as they got, however, and carved out the first chance of the game after four minutes when Sami Allagui knocked a fine pass to Christopher Buchtmann and the midfielder’s shot flew just wide of the right-hand upright.

Brøndby had more of the ball in the opening stages without really threatening but that was to change in the 18^th minute. After a mix-up in midfield Ante Erceg bore down on goal unchallenged, sprinted round Philipp Heerwagen and slid the ball into the net to open the scoring. Allagui soon had an opportunity to equalise and it took a last-ditch intervention by the home defence to prevent him getting a shot off. Brøndby then made it 2-0 four minutes before half-time following a neat passing move through midfield which ended with Dominik Kaiser dispatching a shot into the far corner.

Kauczinski made four changes at half-time, introducing Ryo Miyaichi, Waldemar Sobota, Svend Brodersen and Daniel Buballa for Allagui, Conteh, Heerwagen and Park. Further substitutions followed in Lee for Buchtmann (60’) and Münzner for Flum (65’). Apart from a Brøndby effort that flew two metres wide on 63, the second half was largely uneventful until the 74^th minute, when Brodersen was required to produce two saves within the space of 60 seconds to keep the score at 2-0. At the other end Sobota had an opportunity to pull one back on 84, but his direct free-kick was defused by Marvin Schwäbe in the Brøndby goal. On the stroke of full-time Filip Blazek found the net with a looping header to make it 3-0 and complete the first defeat of pre-season.

After the game Markus Kauczinski said: "We knew it would be difficult and Brøndby deserved to win. In the first half we gave them chances and conceded the goals but we also created opportunities ourselves. In the second half we set out to defend well, which for the most part we managed to do. We had a very young team on the pitch towards the end and it was tough for them going forward."

FC St. Pauli:

Heerwagen (Brodersen 46') – Park (Buballa 45’), Carstens, Ziereis, Avevor, Koglin – Zehir, Flum (Münzner 65’), Buchtmann (Lee 60’) – Allagui (Miyaichi 45’), Conteh (Sobota 45’)

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

Goals:  1-0 Erceg (18’), 2-0 Kaiser (42’) 3-0 Blazek (90’+1)

Attendance: 6,106

Photo: Peter Boehmer