FC St. Pauli

Olaf Janßen made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 against FC Kaiserslautern at the Millerntor ten days ago. Mats Møller Dæhli came in for the injured Cenk Sahin, while Daniel Buballa started on the left of the back four in place of Jeremy Dudziak. The Boys in Brown operated with Bernd Nehrig as the sole holding midfielder in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Sandhausen coach Kenan Kocak was without leading goalscorer Lucas Höler, who pulled a calf muscle during the week and was replaced by José Pierre Vunguidica.

After a cautious start Sandhausen assumed control in the opening stages, with the Boys in Brown dropping back with the aim of stifling the home side's build-up play on the halfway line. The first chance of the game fell to Sandhausen after six minutes when a Philipp Klingmann cross was half-cleared and Julian-Maurice Derstroff struck the rebound against the arm of Lasse Sobiech from very close range. The referee waved play on, however, in what was probably a justifiable decision.

Five minutes later a marvellous chance opened up when Waldemar Sobota knocked the ball forward to Sami Allagui, who laid the ball off beautifully for Christopher Buchtmann. The midfielder slipped his marker with a neat turn, only to be prevented from getting a clean shot in by Klingmann, allowing goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen to defuse the effort without any difficulty. Sandhausen hit back with a chance of their own four minutes later. Förster slipped the ball through for Vunguidica, but Robin Himmelmann raced out of his goal to make a fine diving save.

In the ensuing period the Boys in Brown gradually took control of the proceedings. Waldemar Sobota found Allagui with a free-kick, but his header flew wide left of the goal. Just 60 seconds later the Tunisia international tried his luck from distance, only to see the ball narrowly miss the target once again. At this stage of the game Janßen's team repeatedly broke quickly on winning possession and put the home side under pressure down the flanks. Johannes Flum created space for Luca Zander with a lovely switch, and the right-back cut the ball back to the unmarked Buchtmann, whose shot was blocked at the last second by Knipping. Defensively, the Boys in Brown remained very solid, to such an extent that Sandhausen struggled to mount a threat on Himmelmann's goal as the two lines of four, ably marshalled by captain Bernd Nehrig, quickly closed down the space when tracking back.

With half an hour gone Mats Møller Dæhli was brought down in a central position 30 metres out. Buchtmann again found Allagui with the free-kick, but he was unable to get enough power on the header, though the effort wouldn't have counted as the striker was narrowly offside. Zander then collected the first booking of the game with a tactical foul on Derstroff in midfield. The game dropped off a little towards the end of the half. Møller Dæhli went for goal from range on the stroke of half-time, but Schuhen helped it wide. From Buchtmann's corner the ball suddenly fell for Nehrig in the goal area and Schuhen produced an excellent stop to deny the skipper from close range. The referee then blew his whistle to end an entertaining first 45 in which Buchtmann and Nehrig had two decent chances to open the scoring.

Christopher Buchtmann narrowly failed to beat goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen in the first half.

FCSP came out unchanged for the second period, while Sandhausen had to make an enforced change, Markus Karl coming on for the injured Dennis Linsmayer. In the 49^th minute there were loud shouts of disapproval when Sobota was bundled over on launching a quick counterthrust and the referee elected to stop the play and book Paqarada rather than playing the advantage with the Boys in Brown virtually clean through on goal. At the other end Philipp Förster forced a decent save from Himmelmann with a low drive on 51. Møller Dæhli then went down in the box following a pass by Sobota, but Manuel Stiefler clearly played the ball and there was no penalty.

The Boys in Brown suffered another injury blow in the 56^th minute when Nehrig hobbled off after a challenge in midfield and was replaced by Jan-Marc Schneider. The game became more frantic after that and when Møller Dæhli was fouled on the edge of the box Sobota smashed the resulting free-kick into the packed Sandhausen defence. Schneider then forced his way down the right to the byline and his cut-back was turned behind for a corner, as was a ball in from Buchtmann two minutes later. There were more claims for a penalty on 66 when Møller Dæhli struck the ball against a defender's arm from close range in the box. Again the referee waved play on.

In the 69^th minute the travelling fans breathed a sigh of relief when Sukuta-Pasu knocked a fine pass to the advancing Klingmann and the right-back fired his shot into the side netting despite looking favourite to score. Two minutes later it was Buchtmann's turn to dispatch a long-range effort just past the left-hand upright. Meanwhile Schneider was repeatedly posing a threat with his pace down the right, but his crosses lacked accuracy and found no takers.

An exhausted Møller Dæhli was replaced by Jeremy Dudziak in the 76^th minute and within seconds the St. Pauli No8 found himself in front of goal after some smart combination play with Buchtmann, yet he could only steer his shot into the side netting. Four minutes later the Boys in Brown were left rueing their missed opportunities. When a corner was only half-cleared Stiefler collected the ball outside the area and dispatched a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner to give his side the lead.

Janßen responded by ordering everyone forward in search of an equaliser. Within a minute of conceding Jeremy Dudziak burst into the box from the right and went to ground under a challenge by Förster. This time the home side could have had no complaints had a penalty been given. A string of set pieces then followed before the Boys in Brown grabbed a deserved equaliser at the end of regulation time. Allagui drove into the area from the left and took the ball past two defenders before knocking a pass across goal to Schneider, who turned on a sixpence and rifled a shot into the right-hand corner.

The home side pushed forward once again in stoppage time but Klingmann and Sukuta-Pasu both squandered chances to win it and thus it remained 1-1 after a hectic end to the game.

SV Sandhausen

Schuhen - Klingmann, Seegert, Knipping, Paqarada - Stiefler, Linsmayer (Karl 45') - Ibrahimaj (Daghfous 68'), Förster, Derstroff (Sukuta-Pasu 63') - Vunguidica

Head coach: Kenan Kocak

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Zander, Sobiech, Avevor, Buballa - Nehrig (Schneider 56') - Møller Dæhli (Dudziak 77'), Buchtmann, Flum (Schoppenhauer 87'), Sobota - Allagui

Head coach: Olaf Janßen

Goals: 1-0 Stiefler (80'), 1-1 Schneider (90')

Yellow cards: Zander, Buballa / Paqarada

Referee: Markus Schmidt (Stuttgart)

Attendance: 8,514

Photos: Witters