FC St. Pauli

Head coach Markus Kauczinski named a new-look starting eleven compared with the recent competitive fixtures. It was Vejle BK who seized the initiative and fashioned the first two chances of the game, however, Adam Jakobsen hitting first the left-hand post in the seventh minute and then the right-hand one on 24. The Boys in Brown hit back and almost took the lead after 31 minutes when Alex Meier headed a Yiyoung Park delivery against the crossbar.

Kauczinski's side stepped up a gear after the interval and pushed the visitors back in their own half. The best chance fell to Richard Neudecker on 54 minutes, but his effort from the edge of the box was not accurate enough to trouble Vejle keeper Thomas Hagelskjaer. Entering the final quarter of an hour Neudecker tried his luck again from a corner, this time his shot smacked against the post. The Boys in Brown eventually got their reward for an improved second-half performance three minutes later when Jan-Marc Schneider grabbed the winner with a close-range lob.

"The second half was better than the first," said Kauczinski afterwards. "We showed some good energy and were more solid. I didn't see a first team in either half, it'll be a mixture of the two. Overall, the competition between the players is tighter. We tried different things out in attack and midfield to see which players go together best. In that respect it was definitely a good run-out for us. It was important to get the win."

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann (60' Heim) – Park (Wieckhoff 70'), Carstens (Frahm 70'), Hornschuh (Senger 46'), Buballa (Kuyucu 70') – Flum (Zehir 46'), Knoll (Buchtmann 46') – Miyaichi (Lankford 60'), Sobota (Neudecker 46') – Diamantakos (Schneider 60'), Alex Meier (Allagui 46')

Head coach: Markus Kauczinski

Vejle Boldklub

Starting XI: Hagelskjaer – Hallberg, Sousa, Jakobsen, Schoop, Lauritsen, Emerson, Molgaard, Memija, Hryn, Yurchenko

Bench: Zanette, Louati, Finnbogason, Greve, Rasmussen, Poulsgaard, Andresen

Head coach: Constantin Galca

Goals: 1-0 Schneider (79')

Referee: Eric Müller

Photo: Witters