Late yellow-red for Metcalfe
© Imago
Werder Bremen’s winning streak ended against favorite opponent FC St. Pauli. After four threes in a row, the green-whites had to be satisfied with a 0-0. The Bremeners, who had won the past eight games against the Kiezkicker, missed it at the end of the 31st match day in the fight for the European Cup places.
FC St. Pauli, on the other hand, collected another important point in the fight against relegation from the Bundesliga in the Weser Stadium sold out with 42,100 fans. Shortly before the end, Connor Metcalfe saw the yellow-red card in added time. The Hamburgers have six points ahead of relegation place 16 three of the season before the end of the season. The direct descent is practically no longer possible with nine points and the significantly better goal difference.
Werder coach Ole Werner had surprisingly avoided Oliver Burke. The Briton had unexpectedly explained its departure from the Weser during the week and will go hunting for Union in the coming season. In front of the northern duel, Werner had nevertheless explained to continue to rely on Burke. “The players, the team and the club can rely on my professionalism,” said the Bremen coach. He would “not take things personally”.
But when the lineups in the Weser Stadium became known an hour before the game, the name of Burke was searched for in vain in the first eleven. Instead, Justin Njinmah was in the starting line -up.
It will be difficult to prove whether it was due to this change that the Bremen offensive efforts before the break did not want to get going. However, the hosts found no means in the game for 45 minutes. Apart from an offside goal by Jens Stage, Werder did nothing. Since St. Pauli also only drew attention to himself with an offside goal by Carlo Boukhalfa, the spectators saw a very unsightly game for a half.
After the break, the actions of the green-whites finally became more determined. At first Niklas strongly set a header after the free kick by Marvin Ducksch just next to the goal, then Burke replacement Njinmah had the lead twice on his foot, but shot past the Pauli goal twice within a minute.
In the 68th minute Werner brought Burke. And the Scotsman almost became a match winner. After a nice pass from Romano Schmid Schön, the striker shot into the far corner eleven minutes before the end – but it was offside.
