FC St. Pauli

Head coach Alexander Blessin made two changes to his starting XI after the 2-0 home defeat against Dortmund, Danel Sinani and Oladapo Afolayan coming in for Johannes Eggestein and Elias Saad, who both dropped to the bench. Unbeaten in six, Wolfsburg began with Kilian Fischer, Yannick Gerhardt and Tiago Tomas instead of Mads Roerslev, Bence Dárdai (both bench) and Patrick Wimmer (ill), the scorer of both goals in the recent 2-1 win at Bremen.

More than 3,000 travelling St. Pauli fans packed into the sold-out Volkswagen Arena hoping to see the run of four consecutive defeats come to an end. The Boys in Brown made the better start and it was they who carved out the opening chances. Four minutes in, Noah Weißhaupt rifled a shot past the left-hand upright from 20 metres and then Lars Ritzka hit one wide of the other post from practically the same distance. Wolfsburg lacked the ideas to breach the tightly meshed brown-and-white rearguard in the opening stages. The Wolves have been extremely dangerous from set pieces this season, though, and a throw-in brought them their first chance in the 16^th minute, Yannick Gerhardt's effort from outside the box fizzing just wide of the target. Eight minutes later, Jonas Wind headed over from close range under decisive pressure from Hauke Wahl.

It remained a game low on quality, albeit high on intensity in the tackle. Wolfsburg gradually came more into the game and had the Boys in Brown pinned back for a while until the latter rallied again towards the end of the half. With 35 minutes gone, Danel Sinani won possession in the Wolfsburg half and the ball found its way to Weißhaupt, who shrugged off the attentions of several defenders before unleashing a shot that was deflected wide. The resulting corner was then headed over by Jackson Irvine. Almost immediately, Oladapo Afolayan tried his luck from range, but Marius Müller got down quickly to his left to turn the ball round for a corner. Sinani dispatched an inswinger to the back post, where Irvine headed it back across goal for Siebe Van der Heyden to nod home from close range and send his side in a goal up at the break.

Siebe Van der Heyden gives the Boys in Brown the lead with their first goal in 471 minutes.

Both coaches opted to make a double substitution at half-time. Manolis Saliakas and Elias Saad came on for Lars Ritzka and Oladapo Afolayan, while Maximilian Arnold and Mads Roerslev replaced Kilian Fischer and Yannick Gerhardt for the home side. The Blessin XI resumed the proceedings determined not to let up after the recent negative run and to get a result with a decent second half performance. Saad had the first opportunity with three minutes gone after stealing the ball on the left flank, but his shot was deflected off target.

The onus was on the home side to do more, but as in the first period they continued to struggle against the mean St. Pauli rearguard. With just over an hour gone, however, Wolfsburg moved the ball quickly down the left and fashioned an opening for the unmarked Tiago Tomás, whose shot sliced just wide of the far post. The same player then failed to trouble Nikola Vasilj with a header shortly after another double switch by the home side. At the other end, Philipp Treu cut the ball back for Eric Smith to unload from just outside the box. It was too centrally placed, however, and Müller punched clear. Less than 120 seconds later, referee Robert Hartmann pointed to the spot after Van der Heyden had a tug of Jakub Kaminski's shirt. Mohamed Amoura stepped up to take penalty and levelled the scores by sending Vasilj the wrong way.

Blessin responded immediately with the introduction of Carlo Boukhalfa for Noah Weißhaupt. Wolfsburg scented victory now and a quick counterthrust ended with Kaminski teeing up Amoura in oceans of space in front of goal. His shot looked goalbound until Vasilj somehow got his head in the way to keep the scores level. Neither side was happy to settle for a point, and though Wolfsburg looked the likelier side, Vasilj produced an excellent stop to deny Kaminski and ensure his side came away with a deserved point.

Wolfsburg

Müller - Fischer (Roerslev 46'), Vavro, Koulierakis, Maehle - Skov Olsen (Dárdai 63'), Svanberg, Gerhardt (Arnold 46'), Tomás (Behrendt 79') - Amoura, Wind (Kaminski 63')

Head coach: Ralph Hasenhüttl

FC St. Pauli

Vasilj - Nemeth, Wahl, Van der Heyden - Treu, Smith, Irvine, Ritzka (Saliakas 46') - Weißhaupt (Boukhalfa 71'), Sinani (Eggestein 90'+4), Afolayan (Saad 46')

Head coach: Alexander Blessin

Goals: 0-1 Van der Heyden (38'), 1-1 Amoura (pen. 70')

Yellow cards: Amoura

Referee: Robert Hartmann (Wangen)

Attendance: 28,917 (sold out)

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters