FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin made two changes to the team that drew 1-1 with Borussia Mönchengladbach, last week’s goalscorer Oladapo Afolayan replacing Noah Weißhaupt and Adam Dźwigała coming in for Lars Ritzka, who missed out due to illness.

Kiel were without centre-back David Zec, who was serving a one-match ban after picking up a fifth yellow card in the 1-1 draw with Mainz. He was replaced by Marko Ivezić. Kiel boss Marcel Rapp also included midfielder Magnus Knudsen in his starting lineup in place of the ailing Steven Skrzybski, who dropped to the bench.

The Boys in Brown made the better start and put the pressure on right away, creating a promising opportunity in the third minute, but Elias Saad was flagged offside. Two minutes later, Danel Sinani went for goal straight from a corner, only to be denied by Kiel keeper Thomas Dähne, and two minutes after that David Nemeth failed to get enough power on a header. Blessin’s side lacked punch in this phase of the game but continued to press. Philipp Treu collected a mishit cross from Jackson Irvine near the corner of the box and cut inside from the left before unleashing a right-foot shot on goal that was defused by Dähne. 

Kiel had been largely anonymous in attack from the off but took the lead with their first attempt on goal in the 21^st minute. Irvine was unable to clear his lines and the ball eventually fell to Alexander Bernhardsson, who left Nikola Vasilj no chance with a crisp drive from inside the D. The Boys in Brown took a few minutes to recover but were soon pushing forward again. With half an hour gone, Treu dribbled his way past a few defenders following a corner and laid the ball off for Saad to fire over from just outside the box.

Four minutes later, the Blessin XI were level. Saad floated a cross into the danger area, where Oladapo Afolayan collided with Dähne in an aerial duel and Danel Sinani hooked the loose ball into the net to level the score. Afolayan and Dähne underwent treatment for a couple of minutes but both were able to continue. It remained an entertaining affair after the equaliser, with the home side now prepared to invest more in attack. And the Boys in Brown enjoyed a stroke of luck on 38 when Nicolai Remberg hammered the ball against the underside of the crossbar.

Kiel continued to probe and Magnus Knudsen tried his luck from distance a minute from the interval. The ball dipped and swerved but Vasilj was able to deal with it. That was the last action of note and the two sides went in level at the break.

The first half was a hard-fought affair, as in this duel between John Tolkin and Philipp Treu.

Both coaches made a change at half-time. Saad made way for Morgan Guilavogui, while Marcel Rapp introduced Finn Porath for Timo Becker. The second half took a while to get going but the Boys in Brown were presented with a decent chance after 51 minutes when Irvine flicked on a long throw to the unmarked Sinani, but he failed to make a proper connection, and the ball flew off target.

The tempo dipped slightly, with neither side willing to take too many risks. A long-range effort from Afolayan on 59 posed no problem for Dähne in the Kiel goal. That was the last of the action for the Englishman, who was replaced by Noah Weißhaupt. Three minutes later, Adam Dźwigała hobbled off after picking up an injury, and Siebe Van der Heyden entered the fray.

Both teams lacked penetration in the final third, such that the majority of the action continued to unfold in midfield and chances remained a rarity. Further substitutions did little to change that. Instead, the game descended into a scrap, prompting referee Benjamin Brand to brandish the yellow card on several occasions.

The next goalscoring opportunity did not arrive until the 87^th minute. Guilavogui delivered a cross into the mixer, but Irvine’s header drifted wide of the left-hand upright. Two minutes later, the crowd witnessed an almighty goalmouth scramble following an Eric Smith free-kick. Van der Heyden was in the thick of things, but surrounded by defenders, he was unable to prod the ball over the line from close range.

That marked the beginning of the final onslaught. The game was already into the second minute of time added on when Noah Weißhaupt received the ball in the box, but his shot from the right-hand channel was palmed away by Dähne. The ball found its way back to the wide player, who knocked it back into the middle, where Kiel defender Max Geschwill bundled it over the line in attempting to clear. Or did he? All eyes were on the referee, and having looked at his watch, he awarded the goal to send the travelling fans into raptures and the Boys in Brown on their way back to Hamburg with three vital points in the bag and an 11-point lead over Kiel.

Holstein Kiel

Dähne – Becker (Porath 46’), Ivezić, Komenda (Geschwill 68’) – Rosenboom, Gigovic (Skrzybski 83’), Remberg, Tolkin – Bernhardsson, Knudsen (Schulz 75’) – Machino (Harres 68’)

Head coach: Marcel Rapp

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj – Dźwigała (Van der Heyden 63’), Wahl, Nemeth – Saliakas, Smith, Irvine, Treu – Sinani (Metcalfe 87’) – Afolayan (Weißhaupt 60’), Saad (Guilavogui 46’)

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Goals: 1-0 Bernhardsson (21’), 1-1 Sinani (34’), 1-2 Geschwill (o.g.)

Yellow cards: Ivezić, Harres, Schulz – Nemeth, Afolayan, Wahl

Referee: Benjamin Brand (Schwebheim)

Attendance: 15,034 (sold out)