Three games in six days? No problem for FC St. Pauli. Hamburg ended the English week against SV Elversberg with their third win and remained undefeated leaders in the 2nd Bundesliga.
Despite the exhausting 2-1 win after extra time in the DFB Cup against Schalke 04, St. Pauli showed no signs of wear and tear on Friday (November 3rd, 2023) and achieved a 2-0 (2-0) win at SV Elversberg. Johannes Eggestein (16th minute) and Marcel Hartel (31st) secured the away win with their sixth goals of the season.
“Dominant” St. Pauli, Elversberg too harmless
“We were very dominant and deserved to take the lead“, said St. Pauli coach Fabian Hürzeler after the game on the Sportschau microphone. “In the second half it was clear that Elversberg was going all in again and pressing intensively. We had our problems with that, but we still consistently defended it.“
“We had an opponent who was better“Elversberg’s coach Horst Steffen acknowledged the opponent’s performance.”We tried hard, but achieved little that was productiven.”
Marcel Hartel scores precisely for St. Pauli
Even with six changes to the starting eleven compared to the game against Schalke three days earlier, St. Pauli played confidently and controlled the game. When Eggestein also managed to take the 1-0 lead early with a header from a corner, the guests from the north were on course.
St. Pauli’s keeper Nikola Vasilj had to fend off the hosts’ first shot on goal shortly afterwards (20′), but that didn’t upset the league leaders. Eggestein (26th) missed the next goal with his header. Hartel then really struck. After a pass from Oladapo Afoyalan from the left, he took his measure and shot the ball under the crossbar at the top left to make it 2-0.
St. Pauli then withdrew a little more, but without losing control. The game lost pace in the second half, but the guests had the upper hand. Afolayan (68th) missed the preliminary decision by hitting the crossbar. That’s why the game could have been close if Vasilj hadn’t defused a quick header so badly (80′).
Elversberg against Schalke, St. Pauli against Hannover
St. Pauli remains at the top with 26 points even after matchday 12. Elversberg, which had to admit defeat again after seven games, is in the middle of the table with 18 points.
SV Elversberg will be visiting Schalke at the start of the 13th matchday (Friday, November 10th, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.). FC St. Pauli hosts rivals Hannover 96 at the same time.