Bundesliga relegation battle
© Imago
A mistake by national goalkeeper goalkeeper Oliver Baumann gave FC St. Pauli new hope in the Bundesliga relegation battle. The goalkeeper of TSG Hoffenheim initiated the 0: 1 (0: 0) defeat of his team in the basement duel with the Kiezkickern. Noah Weißhaupt (51st minute) used Baumann’s misfortune for a highly deserved winning goal for the Hamburgers.
The team of coach Alexander Blessin celebrated the first success after six games and pulled the Kraichgauer deep into the relegation strudel again. After four games without defeats, the Hoffenheimers had gained a little distance from the danger zone. Now you only have one point ahead of the Hamburgers.
FC St. Pauli started offensive in front of 29,546 spectators at the Millerntor Stadium once again sold out. The guests waited. The Hamburgers rarely brought TSG into trouble. Captain Jackson Irvine (5th) had the first chance, whose shot was distracted by Hoffenheimer Tom Bishop after a corner kick. After that, little exciting happened.
Many St. Pauli attacks ran over the left side with Philipp Treu and Elias Saad. Hoffenheim’s keeper Baumann rarely had to intervene for a long time. His foremen mostly defended everything away, but little went forward with them. The few mistakes in the game building of the hosts also left Hoffenheimer unused. In addition, the Kiez defensive around Hauke Wahl was safe.
In the middle of the first half, the Hamburgers again became more determined in their attack campaigns. The strong Danel Sinani (27th), who, like the 1-1 in the game at VfL Wolfsburg, preferred to be preferred in front of Johannes Eggestein, tested Baumann. Two minutes later, Sieben van der Heyden narrowly missed the goal with a header.
Even after the change, the Hamburgers were still on the trigger and increased the pressing. This also led to Baumann’s mistake: at his pass on Bishop, faithfully in between, conquered the ball and played it on Weißhaupt, who had little effort to score his first goal for St. Pauli.
FC St. Pauli did not give up and pressed. Baumann fought off a free kick by Eric Smith (57th). The 34-year-old, who is nominated for the National League games against Italy, was also on hand with Irvine’s header. The TSG slowly remembered its offensive. But the Hamburgers fought and defended themselves. The Hoffenheimers were too harmless to prevent the deserved success of FC St. Pauli.
