Matchday 13: VfL Bochum – FC Sankt Pauli 1-1

Getting hungry 🙂

source: http://www.sportnet.at

Well, well… The Boys in Brown stood their ground at Rewirpower-Stadion, staying at 1-1 with VfL Bochum after a really pleasant to watch game, passed with limited casualties probably the most difficult turn of the 1st round (this and Freiburg), made up for the ground lost vs Sandhausen and Union and now they are looking good quite good, having established their position in the group that is chasing promotion. OK Greg, this joke about staying focused towards the 40pts and securing the league has to end at some point – Ewald’s squad is made for more 🙂

 

Quite relaxed situation before the game. Team has already raised the bar by exceeding expectations which weren’t huge anyway, having been saved from relegation at the last moment last season. What comes from this point and forth is considered as bonus, meaning that no defeat, especially an away one against Bochum, is considered as disaster. Biggest anxiety was if the decoder would be able to finish its bloody mandatory EPG data update in time, something that successfully occured 3-4 minutes before kickoff 🙂

Game on, with Ewald Lienen filling endless pages in his notebook from the very beginning and both squads giving the feeling that we’re going to watch a really entertaining bout. Long identifying test shots for Bochum on 3′ (Eisfeld) and for us on 6′ (Kalla), both handled by the keepers, and…goal for FCSP on 10′!!! Quick counter attack, forward header, at the left flank, from Thy to Rzatkowski who made without any time drifting the cross in the heart of the box where incoming Kalla executed Luthe with a bouncing header – YEEESSS!!!  Unfortunately, the bliss lasted less than 2′ with Bochum increasing immediatelly pressure and achieving the equalizer on 12′ – deep cross for the right, parallel to the posts header to Haberer, the shot from 7m and the incredible save by Himmelmann which unfortunately didn’t worth match practically as incoming Terodde got the rebound within the keeper’s box and finished the job…1-1 and back where we started after an explosive opening. Game didn’t turn to Handball but pace remained at a very satisfactory level with both teams stating with their performance their intention to get the maximum out of this game, both creating minor situations at eachother’s end, especially FCSP with more charcteristic the Sobota long shot on the counter attack (40′) ending up slightly above Luthe’s crossbar. The last word for the 1st half belonged to Bochum but thankfully Himmelmann stopped Terrazzino on the 1-1 duel and saved FCSP. Half time 1-1, a game that could go at any side and a very entertaining spectacle, in a very uplifting atmosphere, surrounded by good friends 🙂

The 10th minute Kalla incident 🙂 (image source: http://www.abendblatt.de)

On the 2nd half, still at a good pace, with FCSP having a slight superiority in the pitch and occasionaly trying to threat Bochum with shots (Sobota 49′, Luthe blocked, Hornschuh 57′, over the crossbar). However, first big FCSP chance was a header, a header from Ziereis actually on 65′, following a distant free kick from the left flanks but Luthe reacted correctly, deflecting the ball to safety. Still the best was yet to come, penalty for FCSP on 67′ with Haberer fouling Dudziak into the box – a marginal but correct in my opinion decision. Lasse Sobiech took the ball, took some meters and took the shot…straight to the curva behind Luthe’s posts… Ooooohhh man… what the Hell, we’re not earning many of them, we’re not used in shooting them, heads up 😀 The bad thing is that seems that the situation worked in favor of the hosts, who changed up a gear, something that resulted in their second big chance to get on the driver’s seat. Fortunately, Robin Himmelmann won one more 1-1 duel, changing the course of the ball enough to give the chance to Sobiech to drive the ball with a header temporary away from the net before Hoogland looses another big chance by taking the rebound and shooting the ball which deflected to another brown white leg and ended up corner, just by Skyman’s righ vertical post – phew! Corner executed, ball temporarily cleared but Celozzi insisted and sent the ball back in the box where Simunek was coming and shook hard with a direct volley the brown white crossbar! From Heaven to Hell in less than 10′ but fortunately back safe. Things had turned upside down here and now Bochum was really pressing for their right to victory. Corner from the left on 79′, 9m Hoogland header and…OOOH MAN…what a confident block by Robin Himmelmann right on the line! This boy getting better and better, just needs to become a little more stable in terms of performance 🙂 FCSP survived the 5′ inferno and managed to balance the game once more. We actually had one more good chance but the 19m free kick facing the net proved, as almost everybody in the room predicted, too close for Seb Maier – ball deflected to the wall before ending up corner 🙂 A few minor situations, mainly in the Bochum box, but no further result until the end. Full time whistle, 1-1 after a very good game and probably the fairest result for both squads.

Lasse, not exactly happy – shit occasionally happens 🙂 (image source: http://www.abendblatt.de)

OK, there’s still enough room for improvement in this brown white squad but overall the Boys in Brown have made a looong way since May 🙂 The one thing that Herr Lienen for sure gave to this squad and the virtue that helped them to make the insane finish that saved us from Liga 3  and has driven us so far in the top 3 positions of the table is character and the squad is sitting over solid foundations. This is still a team that can make a comic fuck-up or lose concentration during the critical stages of a game but is a still at the same time a team that looks every opponent in the eye, a team that looks like is going everywhere to win, regardless of the ground or the opponent. I don’t have a clue how this season will evolve, maybe we will fight for promotion until the end, maybe we’ll lose momentum and end up somewhere over the middle, a place that we feel comfortable anyway. One thing is sure: this will be a quite relaxed season, comparing to last year’s nightmare. So let’s relax, enjoy football and this squad without any kind of stress, giving the chance to these boys to improve even further with the solid fan support inside 🙂

…starting with Fortuna Düsseldorf on Monday 9/11. Tricky game, Fortuna looks in deep shit but they made a kind of breakthrough yesterday, beating Fürth at home and increasing the gap from the direct relegation spots where 1860 and Duisburg are playing for survival tomorrow. In any case they shouldn’t be underestimated, let’s play the football we can, with patience and without the anxiety of the favorite and we will probably leave Millerntor and venue happy at the end of the evening 🙂

Line Up:

Himmelmann

Hornschuh L. Sobiech Ziereis Buballa

Buchtmann (Nehrig 87′) Rzatkowski

Kalla Sobota (Maier 77′) Dudziak

Thy (Gonther 90+5′)

Match goals:

0:1 Kalla (10′, Header, Rzatkowski)

1:1 Terodde (12′, Right foot shot, Haberer)

Spectators: 25914

Sankt Pauli cards: Kalla(3), Buballa(1)

Match highlights

Further reading:

• Kicker (German)
• Official website (German)
• Official website photo gallery
• Hamburg ist Braun Weiss (German)
• Kleiner Tod (German)