FC St. Pauli

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler: “Karlsruhe gave a very good performance. They pushed us to the limit. They kept things tight on the flanks with their midfield diamond, whereas we were sedate and untidy, so we changed things round and things got better. It was very hectic, and we went for broke towards the end. Compliments to the team for staying clam and sticking to our game plan when we were behind. We gradually began to dominate and were able to create chances. The players kept their belief, which speaks for their character. Nevertheless, we’ll have to go over the game because they caused us so many problems and we have to come up with better solutions, though I’m obviously pleased with the result.“

Philipp Treu: “It was like a dream. My first priority when I came on was to help the team. Hauke Wahl then urged me to get forward and give it all I’ve got. That has an effect on you, I wanted to help the team straightaway. All the players who come on perform well and it’s the depth in the squad that’s making us successful. I always aim to go flat out and obviously I’m delighted I was able to help the team with a goal like that.”

Jackson Irvine: “We picked up three very important points today. Late wins like that are often the best ones. It was a frustrating afternoon at times. Karlsruhe did very well and made things hard for us. The middle of the park was very difficult to play in. Karlsruhe were very solid and quick in transition. We struggled to get going at times but we remained patient and kept believing in our quality. We’ll come up against different defensive formations over the season and we’ll need to come up with answers to all of them. I think we created lots of chances again today even though we made too many simple mistakes at times and should have made better use of our opportunities. The goalkeeper played well as well, but I think today was more about our mentality than the performance itself. I believe in this team every day and every second. We know how we play. We have some tough games ahead of us but if we look ourselves in the eye, we know we’re ready and we’ll have our moments and we’ll be there when it counts. We can take and learn a lot from the game. I’m delighted for Philipp. What a first senior goal.“

Johannes Eggestein: “I’m delighted we got the win and that Philipp got a goal like that. We’re satisfied with the result, though we know it wasn’t our best performance, especially after the Paderborn game, where we did well in the second half but not so well in the first. Going into a three-match week it was important to get the home win today. It’ll give us more confidence and shows we’re capable of winning tight games like these when we don’t play so well.”

Marcel Hartel: “I think the fans realised we needed a lift and we definitely felt it. You probably saw that we summoned up our last few reserves of energy towards the end. We won the game and took three points. It was an outstanding goal from Philipp. The win is down to the fans as well. They made even more noise the longer the game went on.”

Christian Eichner (Karlsruhe coach): “Congratulations to St. Pauli. It went perfectly for us really for 60 to 75 minutes. We approached things differently this time. We wanted to keep the basic shape of the team, press them high up the field and prevent them from getting going. Both teams threatened. It carried on like that in the second half until St. Pauli put us under pressure and we struggled to keep them at bay. We defended well really, but when they equalised it was clear we were in for a rough time and it was probably inevitable that a shot like that would go in stoppage time. All in all, it was a good performance from us, but we get nothing for that. Overall, we’re three or four points short of being able to feel comfortable in the table.”

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters