FC St. Pauli lost the autumn championship in the 2nd Bundesliga with a draw against SV Wehen Wiesbaden on the last matchday of 2023. The “Kiezkicker” got a late equalizer against Wiesbaden on the third Sunday in Advent (December 17, 2023), and the game ended 1-1 (0-0).
After a goalless first half, Marcel Hartel gave Hamburg the lead early in the second half (47th minute). Hamburg created a number of chances to score against defensively minded guests, but missed out on further goalscoring opportunities. When John Iredale equalized in the 84th minute, the unofficial title of “Autumn Champions” was gone for the FC St. Pauli players under their coach Fabian Hürzeler.
St. Pauli is annoyed about missing out Fall Championship
“We have to decide the game early. It could have ended 4-0”said goalscorer Marcel Hartel, while coach Fabian Hürzeler also had problems: “We’ll try to do better in the second half of the season”announced the 30-year-old.
Ole Zeisler, Sportschau, December 17, 2023 4:00 p.m
“We are happy to take this point into account for our annual financial statementst,” said visiting coach Markus Kauczinski happily at the sports show microphone. “We now have 22 points in the first half of the second division, which is sensational as a promoted team. St. Pauli played a strong game, but we always believed that we could still make the lucky punch.“
Wiesbaden very carefully
Kauczinski’s visiting team focused on defense from the start and largely missed their own attacking efforts. The Hamburg team created several scoring opportunities. Hartel and Elias Saad missed good opportunities (18th, 23rd) before the Hessians approached the opponent’s goal for the first time in the 34th minute: Ivan Prtajin appeared in the home team’s penalty area, but their keeper Nikola Vasilj kept an overview.
A little later it was the goalkeeper who saved St. Pauli from falling behind again: Julius Kade was denied by Vasilj (41′).
Hartel with the longed-for lead for St. Pauli
Shortly after the break, Hartel scored the opening goal that Hamburg had been longing for after a nice combination via Jackson Irvine and Johannes Eggestein. He needed Wiesbaden’s help because his shot from the penalty area was deflected in an unsustainable way by Bjarke Jacobsen.
Hendrik Lückhoff, Sportschau, December 17, 2023 3:33 p.m
As a result, the hosts pushed for more goals, but repeatedly failed due to the well-disposed Wiesbaden goalkeeper Florian Stritzel: against Irvine (54th), Hartel (58th) and again against Irvine (63rd).
When John Iredale was substituted on, the game changed: First, the Australian hit the ball on the lower edge of the crossbar of the Hamburg goal. And a little later – after a controversial scene in the hosts’ 16 – after a one-two with defense chief Florian Carstens, he scored into the bottom left of the Hanseatic goal.
St. Pauli was served – and Wiesbaden celebrated their keeper Stritzel, who together with Iredale won the point for the hosts.
St. Pauli in the new year against Lautern, Wiesbaden in Magdeburg
The “Kiezkicker” will meet Kaiserslautern after the winter break (Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 1 p.m.). Wiesbaden has to play in Magdeburg (Sunday, January 21st, 2024 at 1:30 p.m.)