FC St. Pauli

Timo Schultz on…

...his personnel: "James Lawrence has resumed training in part, Philipp Ziereis is doing a bit of running work alongside the group but is at least back on the training ground, and I hope we'll be able to ease Maximilian Dittgen and Etienne Amenyido back in during the international break. Afeez Aremu is slowly starting running again after going down with Covid, but we're being extremely careful and won't throw him in again straightaway."

...whether Eric Smith will start: "We've been building him back up following his injury. He's gradually been given playing time in the last couple of weeks and is certainly a candidate for the starting lineup, though it remains to be seen whether he can go for 90 minutes."

...the impending top-of-the-table clashes at the Millerntor: "What could be better than hosting Heidenheim, Werder, Darmstadt, Nürnberg and then finishing up with Düsseldorf in front of potentially sell-out crowds at the Millerntor? You couldn't have painted a better end-of-season run-in before the campaign started. We're really looking forward to it. We have some crackers away, too, especially Rostock but also Sandhausen and Schalke. They also make all the effort worthwhile. We're enjoying the situation we're in and taking each game as it comes. It's served us well all season. If we continue to perform the way we can, there are games coming round that we will win."

…opponents Heidenheim: "They're a physically strong side who have led the way for years in terms of sprinting and tackling. We know we're up against some incredible power. It's going to be explosive. In Patrick Mainka and Tim Kleindienst, who are among the best players in the second division in their respective positions, they have two players up their sleeves who have been out injured recently but are now pushing for a place in the team."

...his positive record against Heidenheim and the associated glut of goals: "Every game was different, but they were all practically end-to-end affairs. You don't really expect matches against Heidenheim to be goal fests. I won't have any objections if it's another thrilling game for the fans and it goes back and forth with chances at both ends. It's unusual for Heidenheim to concede more than one goal but we've managed to score four against them three times. We'll think up with another plan that involves us getting the ball forward, creating chances and scoring goals."

...looking forward to a capacity crowd at the Millerntor: "It's a huge boost for us with all the games against the other promotion contenders at home in the next few weeks. It'll be great if everyone who backs St. Pauli makes their way to the Millerntor on Friday evening, the stadium is as full as possible and we get to see a cool game that hopefully we can win. The fans can push us forward in phases where things aren't going so well and we suffer a setback, and they can also provide that little bit of something that makes all the difference. It's going to be a great game, a genuine top-of-the-table clash. We can all look forward to it."

Photo: Witters