FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz made four changes to the side that faced Silkeborg a week ago. Dennis Smarsch returned in goal along with Adam Dźwigała, Leart Paqarada and Jackson Irvine, while Eric Smith was given the captain’s armband.

Just two minutes in, Johannes Eggestein teed up Lukas Daschner, but his shot took a deflection and went out for a corner. The Schultz XI pressed the ball early, with full-backs Leart Paqarada and Manolis Saliakas pushing up in an attempt to break into the final third, as in the seventh minute when Paqarada picked out Eggestein with a cross, only for the new acquisition to be denied by Majkić in the NK Istra goal. 

The early pressure paid off on the quarter-hour when Paqarada’s cross was headed home by centre-back Jakov Medić. There was no respite for the Croatian side, as the Schultz XI continued to press in search of a second goal. Istra remained a threat on the break, however, and Mlinar had a low shot diverted wide for a corner on 19 before the two teams paused for the opening drinks break.

Suitably refreshed, the Boys in Brown carried on where they had left off. Manolis Saliakas rifled a shot over the crossbar from range, and two minutes after that Igor Matanović doubled the advantage after stealing the ball off an opponent to net from 12 metres. Almost immediately, Maurić popped unmarked in front of Dennis Smarsch, only to drag his shot off target, ensuring the Schultz XI went in at the break with a deserved two-goal lead.

Igor Matanović produces a fine finish to make it 2-0 in the 34th minute.

Schultz made three changes for the second half, Nikola Vasilj replacing Dennis Smarsch in goal and Marcel Beifus taking the place of Adam Dźwigała in central defence. Up front, David Otto made his first appearance in the brown-and-white colours, goalscorer Igor Matanović the man to make way. The first moment of danger came at the other end, however, when Istra were awarded a penalty for a handball in the 49^th minute and Misković stepped up to halve the deficit.

The Boys in Brown brushed themselves down and were soon creating chances of their own again. Daschner embarked on a mazy run through the opposition half and his attempt to find Eggestein with a pass into the box was cut out by a Croatian hand. Paqarada was handed the task of taking the penalty and converted with aplomb to restore his side’s two-goal advantage on the hour.

Schultz then took the opportunity to make some more substitutions, introducing Connor Metcalfe for Jackson Irvine and Serhat Imsak for Johannes Eggestein. The Australia international was in the thick of things almost immediately, but his attempt was saved by Majkić. Soon after, Afeez Aremu, Franz Roggow, Carlo Boukhalfa, Lars Ritzka, Niklas Jessen and Luca Zander all entered the fray in place of Manolis Saliakas, Lukas Daschner, Jakov Medić, Leart Paqarada, Eric Smith and Marcel Hartel.

Ten minutes before the end Otto almost notched his first goal for the club after an initial effort from Boukhalfa had been kept out by Majkić. The former Hoffenheim man was first to the rebound, but the Istra keeper was up on his feet again quickly to make the save. In the end, however, there was a debut goal to celebrate when Imsak collected a fine pass from Boukhalfa to make it 4-1 with a composed finish and round off a convincing performance a week before the season opener against Nürnberg next Saturday (13.00 CET).

Post-match reaction

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Timo Schultz: "The mountain scenery surrounding the ground was magnificent. Playing here was really special. For us, it was obviously important to transfer what we’ve been practising in training to the pitch. We gave very little away apart from the penalty, and we created some chances that we didn’t take. It ended 4-1, however, and we saw a lot of what we’ve been working on out there. We scored some nice goals but nevertheless there are still things we need to do better because Nürnberg will pose a stiffer test next week."

Igor Matanović: "That was a definite improvement on our last warm-up game. We won a lot of balls today because our pressing game worked really well, as we saw for the second goal. Everyone knew exactly what they had to do. The training camp has done us all good, as we saw today. We obviously have to improve in some areas, for example where we need to be tidier on the ball, but all in all it was a step forward."

FC St. Pauli: Smarsch (Vasilj 46’) - Saliakas (Zander 71’), Dźwigała (Beifus 46’), Medić (Jessen 71’), Paqarada (Ritzka 71’) - Smith (Aremu 71’), Irvine (Metcalfe 63’), Hartel (Roggow 71’), Daschner (Boukhalfa 71’) - Matanović (Otto 46’), Eggestein (Imsak 63’)

Head coach: Timo Schultz

NK Istra (starting XI): Majkić - Hujber, Mlinar, Galilea, Misković, Moura, Marin, Vujnović, Maurić, Perković, Petković

Head coach: Gonzalo García

Goals: 1-0 Medić (14’), 2-0 Matanović (34’), 2’1 Misković (pen’ 49’), 3-1 Paqarada (pen. 60’), 4-1 Imsak (89’)

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters