FC St. Pauli

Sandwiched between the warm-up games against Lyon and Atalanta, FC St. Pauli went to Norwich City on Saturday (kick-off: 16.00 CET). Before the match kicked off there was a moment of remembrance for Craig Shakespeare, the former Norwich City manager who died on 1 August at the age of 60 following a serious illness. Instead of a minute's silence, the crowd of nearly 10,000 at Carrow Road celebrated his life with a long and rousing round of applause. A moving gesture.

The game kicked off to loud Sankt Pauli chants from the 400 or so fans in the away section. St. Pauli began with new recruit Morgan Guilavogui and Johannes Eggestein up front. Connor Metcalfe and Robert Wagner pressed hard in midfield, and behind them skipper Jackson Irvine looked to pick up any loose balls in the centre of the park. The back four consisted of (from left to right) Philipp Treu, Karol Mets, Eric Smith and newcomer Fin Stevens, with goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj completing the defensive lineup.

Vasij was able to demonstrate his ability after just three minutes, as Norwich fired in a powerful shot from 16 metres that Niko even managed to hold. The English second-tier outfit attempted to prise open our defence with long balls, but in the 18th minute St Pauli struck at the other end. Eric Smith took a corner on the right and Jackson Irvine met it with his head to put his side in front.

The Boys in Brown extended their lead on 32 minutes. Philipp Treu won the ball in a counterpress and Morgan Guilavogui confidently fired home from left of centre.

Just seven minutes later, it was 3-0. Jackson Irvine played the ball to Morgan Guilavogui on the edge of the box. Morgan advanced into the area and then knocked a great pass to Johannes Eggestein, who notched the third goal. Norwich looked stunned. Having mounted some spirited attacks early on, the Canaries had nothing more to offer, which brought moans and groans from the home supporters at half-time.

Numerous half-time changes

Head coach Alex Blessin made numerous changes for the second half. Elias Saad, Dapo Afolayan, Danel Sinani, Scott Banks, Carlo Boukhalfa, Adam Dźwigała and David Nemeth all came on. The home team began the second half with a counterattack, Jonathan Rowe coming in from the right in the 47th minute to pull a goal back, which significantly improved the mood of the home fans.

There were further changes on the hour, including Ben Voll taking over in goal and Lars Ritzka replacing Philipp Treu. Ten minutes later, Borja Sainz and Karol Mets exchanged a few ‘pleasantries’ after the Norwich player had appeared to tackle from behind. It was a more even affair now, but with most of the play restricted to the middle of the park. The away section continued to provide loud support and even got the adjoining blocks to interact with their chants, which was a lovely end to a successful pre-season friendly at Norwich.

Head coach Alex Blessin after the game: "I'm pleased with most of what I saw and especially with some of the attacking patterns we've been working on in training. We still have a lot of work to do before we start in the DFB Cup and then in the Bundesliga, but it's going in the right direction."

FC St. Pauli

First half: Vasilj – Treu - Mets – Wahl – Stevens – Irvine – Metcalfe – Wagner – Guilavogui – Eggestein

Second half: Vasilj (Voll 59') – Treu – Mets – Nemeth – Dźwigała – Irvine (Schmitz 75') – Boukhalfa – Banks – Sinani - Afolayan - Saad

Head coach: Alex Blessin

Norwich City

Gunn – Stacey (Fisher 46') – Hanley – Sainz – Gibbs (Gibbs 46') – Sargent (Idah 67') – Chrisene (Warner 60') – Sorensen – Mclean – Nunez – Rowe (Fassnacht 72')

Head coach: Johannes Hoff Thorup

Goals: 0-1 Irvine (18'), 0-2 Guilavogui (32'), 0-3 Eggestein (39'), 1-3 Rowe (47')

Yellow card: Duffy (79')

Referee: Dean Whitestone

Attendance: 9,959

Photos: FC St. Pauli