2. Bundesliga: St. Pauli unstoppable – HSV slips to fourth place

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FC St. Pauli is still on its way to promotion

Photo: Oliver Hardt / Getty Images

FC St. Pauli is marching undeterred towards promotion. The leaders of the 2nd Bundesliga won 2-1 (1-0) against SC Paderborn on matchday 27 and are eleven points ahead of third place. Fortuna Düsseldorf is there. Hamburger SV had to give up the promotion relegation place after a 1-1 (0-0) draw at Greuther Fürth.

Schalke 04 missed the win at Karlsruher SC, played 0-0 and is still in the relegation battle. This also applies to bottom team VfL Osnabrück, who won 1-0 (1-0) at Wehen Wiesbaden. Hannover 96 won 3-0 (1-0) at 1. FC Magdeburg and is still in the fight for promotion.

FC St. Pauli once again showed a convincing performance. Coach Fabian Hürzeler's team were secure at the back, but they played creatively up front, but not nearly efficiently enough. Marcel Hartel scored the only goal in the first half; the front-runner had previously combined across the entire pitch (32nd minute).

Even after the break, St. Pauli initially had everything under control and increased the score through Lars Ritzka (47'). After that it got exciting again because St. Pauli wasted the ball in the build-up to the game, which Adriano Grimaldi took advantage of to score the next goal (56').

Paderborn then came into the game better and had opportunities to equalize. But then the guests weakened themselves, goal scorer Grimaldi had to leave the field with a yellow-red card after repeated foul play (73'). With the majority, St. Pauli brought victory over time.

HSV couldn't get beyond a draw in Fürth and is once again in danger of missing out on their longed-for promotion to the Bundesliga.

Fürth could have taken the lead in the first half. Armindo Sieb (7th) and Lukas Petkov were unable to take advantage of mistakes in the HSV defense.

In the second half, Hamburg became stronger - and instead scored the opening goal. László Bénes took a corner to Miro Muheim, who picked up the ball around 25 meters from the goal and hit the top left corner with a powerful shot (56').

HSV could then have increased the score to 2-0. Hamburg didn't manage to do that, and instead Fürth also scored a dream goal. Jomaine Consbruch shot from around 30 meters and hit the right corner (77'). Afterwards, HSV pushed for the winning goal, but couldn't get through decisively.

Separation from youth boss Mathias Schober, suspension of defender Timo Baumgartl, who was moved to the second team by Karel Geraerts during the international break, plus relegation worries: Schalke 04 can't calm down. A win against Karlsruhe should have improved things - but the hosts should have made better use of their chances.

Keke Topp (15th), Kenan Karaman (18th/26th/35th), Thomas Ouwejan (40th) and Simon Terodde (45th + 2) failed because of themselves or KSC keeper Patrick Drewes. Against the second-best offense in the league, Schalke showed themselves to be more stable and dominated the midfield.

That changed in the second half, Karlsruhe had two top-class chances with Paul Nebel (51st/66th) and increased the pressure. But there was no more goal scored, and even with the point win, Schalke remains in 14th place. KSC is in sixth place, but will probably no longer be able to intervene in the promotion race.

Too many individual mistakes, too much space for the opponent, too little speed: that is the picture that 1. FC Magdeburg has given off in recent weeks, culminating in the 0:7 defeat against Karlsruher SC before the international break. And in the game against Hannover 96 it was also a mistake that led to the next defeat. A good 20 meters from his own goal, Daniel Elfadli tried to save an inaccurate pass from his teammate Andreas Müller with a tackle, but then played it to Hannover's Max Christiansen. Jannik Dehm then had an easy game and pushed the ball into the far corner in front of the goalkeeper (29').

Magdeburg became more active in the second half, but Silas Gnaka (52') and Elfaldi (53') only hit the post. Instead, Hannover increased to 2-0 shortly before the end, Sei Muroya's goal meant the preliminary decision (84th). Cedric Teuchert made it 3-0 (90th + 4).

Magdeburg is now only two points ahead of the relegation place, while Hannover is only three points behind Düsseldorf, third in the table.

Wehen Wiesbaden and VfL Osnabrück are deep in the relegation battle – and that was evident in the duel. Both teams focused primarily on avoiding mistakes. Often crucial in such situations: individual actions. Osnabrück's Christian Conteh took this to heart when he received the ball near the halfway line and started a solo run. Because the second fastest player in the league was hardly disturbed by Wiesbaden, he had enough time for a well-considered finish to make it 0-1 (31st).

Only the inside post stood in the way of a possible equalizer for Thijmen Goppel (36th), a goal from Aleksandra Vukotić was taken back due to alleged foul play (66th) and 13:4 shots on goal: Wiesbaden threw everything forward, but Osnabrück defended the lead until at the end. Osnabrück ended the game with ten men (90th) after a yellow-red card against Mickaël Cuisance for time play.

VfL still remains eight points behind the relegation place. Wiesbaden is in 13th place with 31 points, which is only two points ahead of 16th place in the tight table cellar.

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