In a high-scoring top game, FC St. Pauli extended its lead in the promotion race with a narrow victory over direct pursuers Holstein Kiel. On Friday evening, coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team narrowly managed to reach the goal in the sold-out Holstein Stadium, winning 4:3 (3:0) after a 3:0 half-time lead.
In front of 15,034 spectators, Oladapo Afolayan (11th minute, 36th), Marcel Hartel (34th) and Connor Metcalfe (57th) scored for St. Pauli. Shuto Machino (53rd), Joshua Mees (65th) and Alexander Bernhardsson (82nd) were successful for Kiel. Hamburg leads the table by six points after 23 match days.
Kiel started bravely, but didn’t take advantage of its chances. St. Pauli proved to be significantly more efficient. Afolayan scored after an assist from Philipp Treu. Hamburg were lucky with two aluminum hits from Marvin Schulz and Tom Rothe (19th), goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj then made a very close save on the line. Hartel increased and initiated the double strike with a through pass to Afolayan, who increased the score to 3-0.
After the break, Kiel came back and benefited from a mistake by goalkeeper Vasilj, who didn’t do a good job of Machino’s shot. Metcalfe restored the three-goal gap with his goal, while Mees and Bernhardsson made the game exciting again. The equalizer was no longer achieved.
Paderborn is filming the game in Wiesbaden
SC Paderborn 07 remains in the fight for the promotion places. The East Westphalia team won 2-1 (1-1) at newly promoted SV Wehen Wiesbaden and reduced the gap to the relegation place to just one point before Saturday’s games. The goals for the away win for the SCP were scored by Koen Kostons (39th minute) and Filip Bilbija (82nd). Franko Kovacevic (30th) gave the SVWW a 1-0 lead in front of 6,119 spectators in the Brita Arena.
In a first half with only a few penalty area scenes, the guests had a little more of the game and had their first opportunity thanks to a free kick from Raphael Obermair, which goalkeeper Florian Stritzel directed onto the crossbar (9th).
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The Hessians surprisingly took the lead after half an hour through Kovacevic, who completed a counterattack after an opponent’s corner with a shot from a tight angle. Before the break, the SCP managed to equalize through Kostons, who ran freely towards Stritzel and fired into the bottom left corner from twelve meters.
At the beginning of the second half, the Paderborn team initially missed a possible second goal when Kostons hit the crossbar from eleven meters (47′) and a shot from Bilbija (51′) from close range to the right post. But Bilbija scored in the final phase and completely turned around a game that was generally of a mediocre level.
