Matchday 32: Holstein Kiel vs FC Sankt Pauli 4-0

Why the long face?

source: http://www.fcstpauli.com, ©️Witters

“If only we had scored one goal in those first 20 minutes”, or “If our defense held their ground in that first goal”, or “If their keeper was not in such a good day”….The ifs go on and on always ending in “…we would have witnessed a completely different game”. Maybe true, maybe not. What difference does it make? We lost man! We lost big time. It is not the loss itself but the volume it took in this 4-0. Hard pill to swallow but hey…The league is saved. We weren’t on the pursuit of any Aufstieg (let’s be realistic here). We are in the first 10 positions in the ranks and last but not least…..When did we give a fuck about results? We’re Sankt Pauli bro. Don’t forget!

First half underway and our entrance was feisty as always. Midline control and pushing forward. On 11’ Zander from the right flank, sends the ball in Kiel’s box. Kyereh leaves for Guido. Burgstaller shoots but his shot finds in Kiel defensives and gets repelled to a corner. On 13’ after the corner gets executed and after several headers, ball ends with Kyereh who shoots right in front of Kiel’s nets. Dähne explodes and repels Kyereh’s shot, saving Kiel from a certain 0-1. On 16’ Dähne once again says no to Kyereh after a shot from the second. This time Dähne blocks it. Clock shows 19’ and there comes the first mistake from Stojanovic in an attempt to send the ball deep to the midline. Easily stolen and ends with Arslan who goes for the shot. Stojanovic blocks it but the ball slips. With a second attempt he secures it before it was too late. Almost the same one is repeated on 22’ when Becker fucks up this time. Ball ends to Serra who sends it cleverly to Arslan. The second shoots and opens the score for Kiel. Our defense was frozen stiff there letting Kiel to unfold their attack. Two minutes later, another mistake from Lawrence ends with Serra again sending the ball to Bartels who shoots and doubles the goals for Kiel. We still had gas in our pump left though. On 31’ Zalazar does his own maneuvers sending the ball to Guido Burgstaller.  Guido shoots but Dähne repels it once again. Action for this first half ends on 34’ when a shot from Porath proves that Stojanovic wasn’t at his best, this matchday. Repels it lousy sending it back to the nets (WTF?????). No idea how that happened but he manages to rush to the ball before it crossed the line and became the most ridiculous goal of the season!

source: http://www.fcstpauli.com, ©️Witters

Second half starts from where the first one stopped. An almost third goal and our old buddy Fin comes to make things right. 49’ and Fin Bartels sees Stojanovic out of his comfort zone. Shoots a splendid distant shot on the spot, passing it above him, sending the ball in our nets for the third time. Our reaction although almost instant, didn’t bare any fruit. On 61’ Burgstaller shooting heavy after a pass from Zalazar ends way off Kiel’s nets. On 62’ a high pass from Paqarada gets cleared by Kiel defensives before Burgstaller became dangerous enough. It was clear that the legs of our players where getting heavier as they saw that nothing they tried to pull, actually worked. On 64’ almost the 4-0 when after a sneaky pass to Mühling where Lawrence was probably sleeping. The first one shoots but this time Stojanovic falls true and saves our nets. On 67’ Stojanovic falls true once again and repels Hauptmann’s shot. Serra receives and passes untroubled from Lawrence (zzzzzzzzzz) sending the ball inside an almost empty net area! 4-0 and really there was nothing more to expect. Desperate attempts. Corners gone to waste and passes to nowhere. A heavy score on our shoulders to turn. Everyone was just running for one goal. That of course never came. Last moment in the game on 83’ when Dittgen passes through everyone, Dähne included, sending the ball before the net area of Kiel but no one is there to receive.

source: http://www.fcstpauli.com, ©️Witters

Until 20’ it all went as usual. We were pushing Kiel in their box and there were several moments were we could have opened the score. Then it all changed. Kiel found a way to fuck up our defense line (mostly our defense line fucked up itself) and send the ball to our nets. Just like that…Out of the blue. Our response was not the one we expected. Heavy feet and cloudy minds. Not the appropriate mindset to turn a game against a team that rightfully claims Aufstieg. One more goal in the first half and two more in the second made a statement. Against Sankt Pauli’s ferocious frontline, all they had to do was wait patiently and lay down four goals. They read us well man. They knew that if they opened up they would have the fate all the others had. And of course they wouldn’t repeat the first round’s mistake in Millerntor (we scored one goal early enough and they turned it into a tie in the second half). Thing is that in this matchday, nothing worked for us. It was one of these days where nothing works and on the other hand, everything Kiel did worked. Against a James Lawrence that was not at his best day and against a Stojanovic that clearly looked like he survived three strokes in a row…Bad call after bad call…It could well have ended 5-0 or 6-0. Especially on Porath’s shot on 35’. Duude what a freakin nightmare! Anyway…All belongs to the past and our eyes are fixed upon the next game. Nothing for us to pursuit no more (as if we were… 🙂 ) but that was never the point. Especially since December most of us were certain that abstieg would be something we would have to fight a lot if we wanted to avoid. And now look at us! 7^th in the league. Being among the fiercest front lines of the league. A nightmare for each one coming to face us! So why should we be bothered from this defeat (besides the 4 goals)? All we need to see is the fire in Burgstaller’s eye man! We missed that in this matchday! Next Sunday in the home game against Hannover, Millerntor will tremple and shake again as it always has lately, devouring the poor visitors. Heads up Sankt Pauli freaks. We still have some pain to deliver before the season is over. FORZA SANKT PAULI-THE BOSS IN HAMBURG! ☠️☠️☠️

 Line Up:

source: http://www.kicker.de

Subs:

Daschner for Kyereh (61’)

Dzwigala for Lawrence (61’)

Dittgen for Marmoush (61’)

Viet for Benatelli (70’)

Buballa for Paqarada (76’)

Match goals:

1-0 Arslan (22′, Left Foot Shot, Serra)

2-0 Bartels (24′, Right Foot Shot, Serra)

3-0 Bartels (49’, Right Foot Shot, Porath)

4-0 Serra (67’, Left Foot Shot, Hauptmann)

Spectators: N/A

Sankt Pauli cards: N/A

Match highlights here

Further reading:

• Kicker (German)
• Official website
• Millernton (German, trnaslator)
• Kleiner Tod (German)