Burkardt bags brace as Mainz stun wasteful St. Pauli

After a strong 0-3 win over Freiburg last week, FC St. Pauli had plenty of reason to be optimistic going into this weekend's home game against Mainz 05.

However, they were unable to build on their momentum as Mainz ran out 3-0 winners, bouncing back from a disappointing 0-2 defeat to Heidenheim.

Jonathan Burkardt got Mainz off to the perfect start, putting them 1-0 up after just five minutes. Philipp Mwene sent a ball into the box and Burkardt, with his back to goal, headed the ball over Nikola Vasilj and into the net.

With 16 minutes on the clock, Armindo Sieb made things even better for Mainz. The forward was picked out by Nadiem Amiri and slammed the ball home to make it 2-0.

St. Pauli dominated possession and chances, but were unable to convert their dominance into goals, with Robin Zentner making several good saves to keep Mainz 2-0 up at half-time.

Just after the hour mark, Mainz struck again, and once again it was Burkardt who found the net. The striker latched onto a pass from Nadiem Amiri, ran through and hammered a fine shot into the bottom corner for his second of the evening.

That goal effectively put the game out of reach for St. Pauli, who still haven't scored on home soil. The Hamburg club are now 15th in the table, while Mainz climb to 10th ahead of Sunday's matches.