FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin made one change in the starting eleven from the line-up that began the game in the DFB Cup at Hallescher FC. Lars Ritzka, who was the match-winner after coming on in Halle with the assist to make it 2-2 and then the winning goal, started in place of Fin Stevens. Ritzka moved to the left side of defence, with Philipp Treu moving across to the right-hand side. 1. FC Heidenheim coach Frank Schmidt made no less than eight changes to the side that won the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off at BK Häcken 2-1 on Thursday. Only captain Patrick Mainka, Jan Schöppner and scorer of the winning goal Leonardo Scienza also started at the Millerntor.

Everything was set for our club’s Bundesliga comeback: wonderful weather with plenty of sun and a pleasant 20 degrees, a perfectly prepared pitch and, of course, a jam-packed Millerntor complete with a fantastic atmosphere and a sea of flags in the South Stand as the two teams ran out. Then the game kicked off and the first chance fell to FCH. On 4 minutes, a long-range shot from Adrian Beck from nearly 27 metres went just wide of the left-hand post. The Boys in Brown tried to get control of the game, but in the early stages were unable make any decisive advances towards the Heidenheim box. That was down both to some occasional imprecision in passing and to good defending from the visitors. As our players were also keeping things tight at the back, it remained quiet in both penalty areas.

Then, the Boys in Brown suddenly put together a good string of passes, which almost led to us taking the lead. Via Philipp Treu, Morgan Guilavogui, Jackson Irvine and Johannes Eggestein, the ball came in from the right in the 20th minute to Connor Metcalfe in the centre. He took aim from 17 metres out. But sadly his shot went centimetres wide of the bottom left-hand corner. Three minutes later, Eric Smith powered a 30-metre free kick over the bar. Our boys were now properly in the game. And it was Blessin’s team too that had the next good chance after 30 minutes. Receiving the ball from Eggestein, Guilavogui raced away down the right and crossed for the incoming Metcalfe. But his first-time shot from eight metres was safely gathered by FCH keeper Kevin Müller.

While FCH themselves did repeatedly try to get forward, our defence stood very solid. When in the 37th minute things did for once look dangerous as a mis-hit clearance saw the ball fall to the unmarked Paul Wanner just twelve metres out, the FCH man failed to make proper contact. At the other end, when in the 40th minute Jonas Föhrenbach failed to get enough distance on a defensive header, Treu shot from 14 metres out halfway right of centre, but sent the ball flying over the bar. That was the last of the action in the first half.

Connor Metcalfe twice had the chance to give FCSP the lead.

The two teams came back out unchanged. Our team got off to the better start: after just 90 seconds, it could, and perhaps should have, been 1-0 to the Boys in Brown. A Smith free-kick half-way out in the 47th minute was met by Guilavogui climbing high completely free just six metres from goal. But his header hit the left-hand post. Three minutes later, Robert Wagner could have shot from a central position 18 metres out, but opted for a diagonal pass, which Föhrenbach was able to cut out. But our boys kept at it: Ritzka got to Eggestein’s cross in the 54th minute ahead of FCH man Omar Traoré, but sent his effort into the North Stand (54.).

For the first time in a while, the visitors did then get into the FCSP box, but Leonarda Scienza’s 57-minute shot was no problem for Vasilj. At the other end, Guilavogui first fired well over from long range (58 minutes), then three minutes later headed over from a Smith corner. Following a pass from Irvine, Metcalfe then broke through on the left of the box in the 63rd minute. The FCSP captain passed inside to Guilavogui, who was just a boot's length away from reaching the ball. Then it was end-to-end stuff. Smith again sent a dangerous corner into the FCH penalty area, Guilavogui’s header landed at the feet of Hauke Wahl, but from six metres out he was unable to beat Müller, who reacted well. The ball remained in play and the visitors mounted a very quick counter. It ended with Wanner one-on-one with Vasilj, who had no chance with the FCH man’s low shot into the bottom left-hand corner to make it 0-1 after 66 minutes. The goal really changed the course of the game.

With 15 minutes to go, Blessin reacted with a triple change. Manolis Saliakas, Carlo Boukhalfa and Oladapo Afolayan replaced Lars Ritzka, Robert Wagner und Morgan Guilavogui. Our team battled hard to fend off the looming first-day defeat, but FCH were showing no mercy. A corner from Mathias Honsak, who had just come on, was met in the 82nd minute by Jan Schöppner unmarked at the far post, and he netted from close range to double the visitors’ lead. Two chances in the second half, both in. In the final few minutes, our Boys in Brown could do nothing more and despite having put in a good performance had to accept defeat on their Bundesliga comeback due to not converting chances.

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Wahl, Smith, Mets - Treu, Irvine, Metcalfe (Saad 84'), Wagner (Boukhalfa 76'), Ritzka (Saliakas 76') - Guilavogui (Afolayan 76'), Eggestein

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

1. FC Heidenheim

Müller - Traoré (Busch '90+2), Mainka, Gimber, Föhrenbach - Maloney, Schöppner - Beck (Pieringer 62'), Wanner (Honsak 80'), Scienza (Conteh 62') - Breunig (Kerber 80')

Head coach: Frank Schmidt

Goals: 0-1 Wanner (66'), 0-2 Schöppner (82')

Referee: Sven Jablonski

Attendance: 29,157

Photos: FC St. Pauli / Witters