FC St. Pauli

After the 13-0 win in the opening pre-season friendly at MTV Hetlingen, there was "decent opposition" lined up for the Boys in Brown in shape of league rivals Holstein Kiel, as head coach Timo Schultz pointed out in the run-up. The FCSP boss made six changes to his team, Marcel Hartel, Carlo Boukhalfa, Jakov Medić, Luca Zander, Lars Ritzka and Connor Metcalfe all featuring in the starting lineup.

The Boys in Brown fashioned their first goalscoring opportunity in the fourth minute when Ritzka dispatched a ball in behind into the path of Amenyido, who burst into the box and passed to the better-positioned Metcalfe. His low shot from 18 metres was too central, however, and posed little trouble for Kiel goalkeeper Tim Schreiber. Soon after, the game was over for Amenyido. The No14 was left clutching the back of his thigh after setting off on a sprint and eventually had to go off after receiving treatment. He was replaced by Serhat Imsak.

In contrast, Kiel's first attempt on goal found the back of the net with nine minutes gone. The hosts played their way into the penalty box and when the ball was squared across goal Benedikt Pichler was left with the simple task of tapping in.

The pace of the game picked up a little after the opening goal. Fabian Reese volleyed just over the crossbar and then Lukas Daschner plucked up the courage to unleash a left-foot drive from the inside-left channel. His shot flew narrowly wide of the right-hand upright. The attacking midfielder went even closer a few minutes later when he latched on to a cross from Boukhalfa. Daschner got a toe on the ball and it went just wide of the left-hand post.

Just before the interval the alarm bells were ringing in the St. Pauli penalty area when Alexander Mühling whipped in a low ball from the right and David Nemeth had to produce a last-gasp clearance to prevent it from crossing the line.

Connor Metcalfe (right) about to go up against Kiel's Lewis Holtby.

Kiel laid down the first marker of the second half when Fabian Reese rifled a shot just over the top two minutes in. At the other end, it was Carlo Boukhalfa’s turn to threaten the opposition goal. Unfortunately, he knocked a Hartel free-kick a little too far in front of him, allowing Schreiber to gather. Manolis Saliakas then smacked a cross into the Kiel box, but Imsak's header flew wide by some distance.

On 67 minutes the hosts again proved more lethal in front of goal on the day, Fiete Arp shrugging off a challenge from substitute Franz Roggow to double his team's advantage. In the 72nd minute, Johannes Eggestein, the club's latest acquisition, made his first appearance in the brown and white colours. The focus initially, however, was on Lukas Daschner, who headed just wide from a decent cross by Leart Paqarada. 

Four minutes later, Dennis Smarsch pulled out all the stops to deny Niklas Niehoff in a one on one. The keeper was on hand again soon after when Nico Mai put him to the test from close range. Johannes Eggestein registered his first attempt on goal just before the end. After playing a one-two with Marcel Hartel, "Jojo" targeted the near post, but keeper Schreiber was well placed to make the save and it ended in a 2-0 defeat.

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Post-match reaction

Luca Zander: "There are things we still need to work on and we'll look to improve them in the next few weeks. Today's game was very important because these things cropped up again. We could have been stronger in the challenge today."

Dennis Smarsch: "Overall, there were some good signs. It was our first meaningful pre-season run-out today. Pre-season is there to try things out and the detailed work will follow."

Timo Schultz: "Results are part and parcel of warm-up games and 2-0 is a fair result for Kiel. They had more clarity in their play and created more of the chances as a result. We had some good opportunities of our own, though, but unfortunately we didn't get our reward for the effort we put in."

Holstein Kiel

Schreiber - Kirkeskov (Carrera 59'), Komenda, Mühling, Pichler (Obuz 46'), Holtby (Voss 72'), Reese (Niehoff 72'), Van den Bergh (Mai 59'), Sander, Becker, Arp

Head coach: Marcel Rapp

FC St. Pauli

Smarsch - Zander (Saliakas 46'), Nemeth (Beifus 55'), Medić (Dźwigała 55'), Ritzka (Paqarada 46') - Smith (Roggow 65'), Hartel, Metcalfe (Eggestein 72'), Boukhalfa - Daschner, Amenyido (Imsak 14')

Head coach: Timo Schultz

Goals: 1-0 Pichler (9'), 2-0 Arp (67')

Yellow cards: -

Photos: Witters