Good to see Trojan back as he covered a lot of ground and run his socks off for the St Pauli cause.

0-0 at halftime but you knew if they kept the tempo high they would get a goal eventually.Must say the opposition didn't ask a lot of Hains and he had a quite game bye and large.

Auswaertssieg! Auswaertssieg! Auswaertssieg!
if they didn't get the message, I guess they'll never will... It's time to bring some points back home!

Highlights:

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Highlights can mask alot, but would it be fair to say that Hoilett was a lot more involved on Friday? One lovely bit of skill in the first half, jinking past a defender. If he can do that a bit more often then he could be a eal addition to the squad for the rest of his loan.

Some of the free kicks and corners of previous weeks have been dreadful, good to see them getting a few decent ones in.

That was the easiest win of the season so far, against an incredibly passive opponent, even if it looked at half-time like my tip would be right.

St. Pauli made 2 changes from the Augsburg lineup, with Trojan back as captain at the expense of Bruns, and Brunnemann on from the start instead of Schultz, in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Barney certainly made the most of his opportunity, and looked like returning to the form which he showed in the cup game against Leverkusen last season. He was fouled twice in the first 4 minutes, which obviously gave him extra motivation.

We put Wehen under pressure right from the start, with several corners and free kicks, all of which came to nothing, but after the first 15 minutes it was clear that Wehen were just out for the point, and maybe hoping to sneak a goal; most of the first half they were bogged down in their own half, defending with 8 men. Unfortunately, it didn't look like we had any recipe to crack their defence, and the game flattened out.

Then, with nearly half an hour gone, Boll played a nice one-two with Ludwig, but his shot from 25 yards went just past the left post. A minute later, Hoilett did one of his trademark solos down the right, going past 2 Wehen players, but his shot from the edge of the area only hit the side netting. The next two minutes saw three chances for us: the first when Brunnemann took the ball off a Wehen player and crossed in low from the left, but Ebbers and Hoilett both just missed, then Ludwig - pretending he was Hoilett - stormed into the Wehen area on the left and forced Wehen keeper Walke to dive low to his right for a corner, with Kokot heading off the line after a Brunnemann header.

The game then quietened down again for the rest of the first half, and the players went off to some rather muted applause, with the St. Pauli fans acknowledging that at least the team was trying to break the Wehen bulwark, and the Wehen fans numbering only about 100, so you couldn't hear them anyway.

The drizzle came on during the break, so we now had all the traditional elements required for the superstitious St. Pauli fan - Friday, floodlights, and lousy weather. No substitutions by either team for the second half, although Brunnemann and Hoilett swapped over, which may have been decisive.

In the 54th minute, Hain had to put down his book to save a harmless, long-distance effort from Schwarz, and a minute later, Hoilett's 20-yard shot from the left was parried by Walke and fell to Rothenbach, but he unfortunately stumbled before he could control the ball and it went out for a goal kick.

Finally, in the 57th minute, we got the breakthrough. Brunnemann shrugged off a challenge 25 yards out on the right, there was a bit of a scramble involving him, Trojan and a few Wehen defenders on the 18-yard line, but then he managed to get the ball free and, in falling, sent a cracking shot with his weaker, left foot into the net at the top right.

Four minutes later, Ebbers, who should have got air miles for the distance he covered during the game, took the ball from a half-asleep Wehener, and was fouled for his pains. Ludwig took the kick 30 yards out on the left, and Boll got his head to it first and sent it in low and right - no chance for Walke.

That was the game decided. Unlike other home games this season (except Oberhausen), there was never the impression that the other team would actually do anything to threaten the win. Schultz came on for Hoilett in the 70th, and Brunnemann went off to a deserved standing ovation in the 74th, replaced by Sismanoglu. Hoilett had again had a good game, probably as good as in Augsburg. Ömer seemed a bit nervous in his 15 minutes of prime time, but didn't do anything wrong.

Schnitzler was brought in for Ludwig in the 79th minute, with Stani seemingly looking to improve the team's goal difference, but there were no more real chances for St. Pauli after that. Wehen, on the other hand, hit the bar in the 83rd, and with two minutes to go actually got their first corner!!!

If all games were like that, it would be a very boring league. But we've got the very unboring game in Duisburg on Wednesday (at another stupid kick-off time), and Duisburg are a class better than Wehen. Next season possibly two classes. So then we'll see if the players have taken the fans' chants after the game to heart. I'm not expecting an away win - however they do it, an away point would be nice for a change.

St. Pauli - better than Wehen, not as good as Augsburg.

I.m typing this quickly (with lots of misakes as the German keyboard is confusing), at Hamburg airport, on Monday. A good win against limited opponents. Most seemed to be 6ft 3 and just got behind the ball. The result was the important thing here. MMMmm got to go - out of credits.

Zim.
Once again a pleasure to read.Enjoy the Duisburg game.....