FC St. Pauli

Both Fabian Hürzeler and Braunschweig coach Daniel Scherning made several changes, which was partly down to the absence of various international players. The home side got off to the better start, not least due to some wayward passing from the Boys in Brown. With five minutes gone, Lars Ritzka had to make a last-ditch clearance just as Thorir Helgason was shaping to shoot, and then Sascha Burchert gathered a Jannis Nikolaou header with aplomb. At the other end, Marcel Hartel hit a free-kick into the wall in the 13^th minute. Next, a promising foray down the right on the quarter-hour ended with Hartel unloading from ten metres, only for Maurice Multhaup to block the shot.

The Boys in Brown began to dominate and created the next decent opening on 21 when Etienne Amenyido was given too much space on the edge of the box, but he directed his shot narrowly off target. Soon after, Carlo Boukhalfa took aim from 30 yards out, and his effort also flew wide of the goal. With Braunschweig struggling to relieve the pressure and dropping further back, the Hürzeler XI seldom found the right solution against a compact Eintracht rearguard. Then, 33 minutes in, Hartel slipped a superb through ball for Simon Zoller to chase, but the angle was very tight, and he was denied by a fine reflex save from Tino Casali. There was nothing the Braunschweig keeper could do three minutes later, however. After winning possession in midfield, the Boys in Brown got the ball forward quickly. Amenyido picked out Hartel and he beat Casali from the left channel to give his side the lead going into the break.

Hürzeler made four changes for the second half, Andreas Albers, Maurides, Oladapo Afolayan and Under-23 midfielder Max Marie replacing Hauke Wahl, Marcel Hartel, Johannes Eggestein and Simon Zoller, and three of them were involved in a double chance six minutes in. Marie got past Keita Endo on the byeline and knocked a textbook pass to Maurides, whose shot was cleared off the line by Brian Behrendt. The clearance fell to Albers, but the Dane fired just over from 15 metres. The Boys in Brown continued to dictate the proceedings, seeing off the odd Eintracht attack with some excellent defending. Ritzka had a chance to double the advantage from a Maurides lay-off, but his low drive from just outside the box fizzed inches past the right-hand post.

On 62 minutes Hürzeler introduced Luca Günther and Under-23 midfielder Gwangin Lee for Philipp Treu and Etienne Amenyido. But seven minutes later Braunschweig equalised out of the blue when the Boys in Brown were unable to clear their lines from a corner. Nikolaou played the ball back into the penalty area, where Burchert produced a decent stop to deny Saulo Decarli, only for Luc Ihorst to smash the rebound into the net. After David Nemeth had made way for Under-19 defender Muhammad Dahaba, Ihorst had an opportunity to shoot from the left channel on the counter, and Burchert was at full stretch to prevent the home side from taking the lead. Four minutes from time the home side did turn the game on its head, however, when Ihorst netted from a ball in by Ryan Philippe.

Head coach Fabian Hürzeler: "I was very pleased with the performance up to the 60^th minute. We played really well to that point apart from the first few minutes when we were a bit sloppy under some aggressive Braunschweig pressing. We were very dominant after that, though. We created chances and took a deserved 1-0 lead but failed to add a second. The equaliser came from a set piece and then they took good advantage of a quick transition. We can still improve in all areas. We have to give fewer opportunities away when the opposition switch the play and we need to defend set pieces better. On the ball I found our solutions in the final third very good, especially in the first half."

Eintracht Braunschweig (starting XI)

Casali - Marx (Rittmüller 78'), Behrendt (Wiebe 62'), Kurucay (Bičakčić 78'), Kijewski (Donkor 62') - Griesbeck (Decarli 62'), Nikolaou - Multhaup (Ihorst 62'), Endo (Kaufmann 78'), Sané (Philippe 62') - Helgason

Head coach: Daniel Scherning

FC St. Pauli

Burchert - Dźwigała, Wahl (Marie 46'), Nemeth (Dahaba 70') - Treu (Günther 62'), Boukhalfa, Hartel (Afolayan 46'), Ritzka - Eggestein (Albers 46'), Zoller (Maurides 46'), Amenyido (Lee 62')

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

Goals: 0-1 Hartel (36'), 1-1 Ihorst (69'), 2-1 Ihorst (86')

Referee: Felix Bickel (Wolfsburg)

Attendance: 150

Photos: FC St. Pauli/Witters