VfL fights until they drop: St. Pauli drops points in Osnabrück

On Saturday evening, FC St. Pauli lost a lead against bottom-placed VfL Osnabrück: The front-runners couldn’t get past a 1-1 (1-0) draw at the Bremer Brücke – because they didn’t make enough progress after the break.

At first it seemed to be a very clear matter. St. Pauli’s captain Jackson Irvine made it 1-0 with a header in the sixth minute. But the guests missed some good chances to add to the score. And driven by the notorious Osnabrück crowd, the purple-whites fought tirelessly after the break. Charalambos Makridis finally rewarded Lower Saxony with a 1-1 draw, which in the end wasn’t even undeserved. Shortly before the final whistle, Osnabrück’s Niklas Wiemann saw yellow and red.

St. Pauli sets an exclamation mark early on

Everything was actually set up for a typical evening at the Bremen Bridge: Osnabrück as a blatant outsider, the floodlights were shining and the weather was rather poor. But before the home team could even begin to fight, they were already behind. And that was far too easy: Marcel Hartel corner, Irvine header – 1-0. VfL would have liked to have been whistled for an offensive foul, but the Australian’s robust entry was not criticized. However, it was not entirely possible to determine whether it had even been a corner.

Osnabrück (almost) has no chance in the northern duel

The purple and white on the field, as well as their fans in the stands, needed a little time to process the hit. The guests clearly dominated the game, ran more and won significantly more duels.

Shortly before the opening goal, Irvine had their first big chance (5th). As a result, the VfL defense was much better. And after a corner, the home team had the opportunity to score, but keeper Nikola Vasilj saved in dire need (21′). But that was it.

Rather, the scene acted like a stimulant for the guests. Johannes Eggestein could have increased the score to 2-0 twice. The center forward narrowly missed with his header (26′), then his shot was just blocked (27′).

St. Pauli is not slowing down

At first it was only exciting because of the score. Elias Saad also didn’t hit more than the side netting (48′). Six minutes later an Irvine header passed over the home side’s goal. The direction of the game had changed, but only because the sides had changed at halftime.

But the longer it was only 0:1 from their point of view, the more the Osnabrück team believed in their chance. And the substitution of Christian Conteh at least acted as a small initial spark. The ex-St. Paulian is considered the fastest player in the league and occasionally caused a stir in the visitors’ defense, which is not by chance the best in the league.

Makridis shocks the league leaders

It wasn’t really dangerous for keeper Vasilj. And so it was always a vabanque game. In the 67th minute it could have been 0-2, but Oladapo Afolayan was denied by Philipp Kühn. The goalkeeper was also there for Hartel’s shot nine minutes later.

But suddenly it was really 1:1. Conteh crossed in front of the goal and Makridis, who was also substituted, shot an unstoppable shot for Vasilj (82′). In the end, either side could have scored a goal – but the game probably didn’t deserve a winner. Nevertheless, St. Pauli almost managed to make it 2-1. But Wiemann initially prevented Maurides from potentially having a decisive shot on goal with a foul for which he had to leave the field. Then Kühn saved the 1-1 with a brilliant save from Hartel’s free kick from 18 meters (90th + 5th).

Match statistics VfL Osnabrück – FC St. Pauli

Matchday 16, December 9th, 2023 8:30 p.m

Gates:

VfL Osnabruck: Kühn – Ajdini, Gyamfi, Wiemann, Kleinhansl – Gnaase, Tesche (68. Wulff) – Rorig (52. C. Conteh), Cuisance (90.+4 Diakhite), Niemann (69. Makridis) – E. Engelhardt
FC St. Pauli: Vasilj – Wahl, Smith, Mets – Saliakas (81. Ritzka), Irvine, Hartel, Treu – Afolayan (68. Metcalfe), J. Eggestein (68. Amenyido), Saad (76. Maurides)

Viewers: 15741

This topic in the program:
Sports current | 12/09/2023 | 10:25 p.m