First mercilessly efficient, then with luck in the final spurt: FC St. Pauli won the top game of the 2nd Bundesliga and extended its lead in the table.
At Holstein Kiel, the frontrunners won 4:3 (3:0), are now six points ahead of the second-placed North Germans and have their sights firmly set on promotion. The lead over city rivals Hamburger SV, which occupies the relegation place, is ten points.
Oladapo Afolayan (11th, 36th) and Marcel Hartel (34th) shocked the initially brash Kiel team with their goals. In particular, the double strike by Afolayan and Hartel within just under 90 seconds broke the rhythm of the hosts, who had already lost 5-1 in the first leg. After the break, Kiel turned up the heat: Shuto Machino (53rd), Joshua Mees (65th) and Alexander Bernhardsson (82nd) gave Holstein hope, Connor Metcalfe (57th) was successful for the guests.
In the duel between the first and second, Kiel had the first big chance. However, Finn Porath (5th), who celebrated his 27th birthday on Friday, missed from a good position, and a long-range shot from Machino (9th) also flew past the visitors’ goal.
Coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team then demonstrated how it could be done better. Afolayan was not disturbed vigorously in the penalty area and scored. Kiel, however, was not shocked and immediately pushed for an equalizer. The big problem was efficiency: First Steven Skrzybski (18th) was denied by Nikola Vasilj, then the goalkeeper parried a rebound from the inside post just in front of the line.
That took revenge: Hartel and again the strong Afolayan extended the lead for the ripped-off guests.
Kiel remained stubborn even after the break – and put the guests in dire straits. Shortly before the end, Bernhardsson (89th) narrowly missed the equalizer, St. Pauli hit the crossbar twice in stoppage time.