This was almost the game of the season so far. It had its downs and ups (in that order), lots of nice actions on both sides, and very nearly a happy ending.
Stani made 2 changes from the disappointing performance in Freiburg: Hoilett was on for Hennings, and Schultz had to make way for Trojan. There were nearly 22000 in attendance, including about 300 from Ahlen.
I managed to get in about 12 minutes after the start, and apparently only missed a good chance from Rothenbach, whose shot through 2 Ahleners' legs was caught by Lenz in the 8th minute. So I'd got to my position just in time to see an Ahlen free kick in the 14th minute. The free kick decision, like many of the 6-(sorry, 20)-year-old referee's, may have been a bit dodgy, but the kick itself wasn't. It was perfectly placed, over the wall and in at the top left, and although Hain got his fingertips to it, you can't blame him.
You could see why Ahlen were the best newly-promoted side in the league and had such a good away record; their counter-attacks had obviously been trained to near perfection, and their defence was fairly solid. Although St. Pauli tried to come back, they didn't manage much until the 30th minute, when a long shot from Bruns went past the right post.
Just a minute later, we were 2 down, after a brilliant, defence-splitting pass from Hoithoelter, who had scored from the free kick, put Grosskreutz through into the penalty area, and he ran past Hain, who was too slow to come off his line, and slotted in from the left.
Was that it? Was Fortress Millerntor about to be finally taken at the 7th attempt this season? It certainly looked like it, and the atmosphere was very subdued (apart from the Ultras, who would probably lalala their way through a forthcoming meteor strike) - for about 4 minutes.
Then Ludwig, whose standards were crap
again, ran forward from the centre circle on the left and passed in to Ebbers, whose first shot was blocked by Lenz, but managed to score on the rebound, knocking it in at the far post while Lenz was still getting up. Now the team was back, and the fans were back, and Ahlen knew it.
Hoilett just missed the equaliser a couple of minutes later, with a wonderfully cheeky flick 8 yards out on the left, which went just past the right post, but we got it in the 42nd minute. Lenz underestimated a Trojan free kick from the right, which hit the left post, and Bruns got to it first, shooting in on the left. Even Doering's attempt to fist the ball off the line didn't help.
2-2 at half time, advantage St. Pauli, at least psychologically.
The advantage didn't last long though, as with less than 5 minutes of the second half played, Ebbers, who had already picked up a yellow for dissent, tugged at Miletic's shirt in the centre circle, in full view of the referee, and got his marching orders. Stupid, stupider, St. Pauli.
Some of you may remember that Miletic played for us for a couple of seasons in the dark days of the Regionalliga, and had the honour of being sent off against Osnabrueck by corrupt ex-ref Robert Hoyzer, in one of the games he fixed. Hoyzer is now out of prison, but is unlikely to visit Millerntor in the near or distant future.
Anyway, you would have thought that Ahlen would have seized the advantage and put us under pressure, but quite the opposite. St. Pauli rose to the occasion, and pinned them back into their own half for pretty much the rest of the game.
After 15 minutes without a forward, Sako came on for Hoilett. I'd have put Schnitzler on instead, but that's Stani's decision. Brunnemann came on for Ludwig in the 75th, and Hennings replaced Bruns in the 81st.
Three minutes before time, Miletic grabbed Sako's arm after a Trojan free kick, causing him to
unnaturally rotate, and the ref gave a penalty. Trojan apparently said afterwards that he was too knackered to trust himself with it, which I can believe, so Hennings stepped up. The guy next to me told his brat to "get ready to celebrate", so I had to slip in an "...or not!" True enough, Hennings' shot, low and right, was deflected for a corner - a great save from Lenz which made up for his screwup with the equaliser.
The last chance of the game came from a Trojan corner, with Eger's header headed off the line, but honestly, a win would have been too good to be true. Still, after yet another game in which we were a man down for over 40 minutes and got so close to getting 3 points, it's looking good. If only we could translate that determination not to lose at home into a willingness to kick arse away, it could be so much better. Maybe next season.
We're now 7th, which is more or less where we belong, and with 4 games to go before the winter break we already have 20 points, so it looks pretty good from the not getting relegated point of view. The next game is Sunday against league leaders Mainz, after which we will still have 20 points... ermm, at least.
St. Pauli - better than Nürnberg, not as good as Freiburg.
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