Union Berlin climb into top half with combative win at St. Pauli
| Khedira scored his second goal of the season | Stuart Franklin/Getty Images |
Despite St. Pauli’s abysmal form, the home fans created a spectacular atmosphere in the last game of matchday 11. However, the confetti show caused a slight interruption around the 15th minute of the match.
The first real chance of the game came after the 30th minute when Andréas Hountondji and Mathias Pereira Lage combined for an off-target header by the latter. Nikola Vasilj’s first save of the game was from Andrej Ilic’s shot from the right flank.
The visitors finished the half strongly with Tom Rothe the next to try his luck. Union’s throw-ins caused plenty of problems for St. Pauli, and one of them led to a goal before half-time. After his initial attempt was blocked by teammate Ilic, Rani Khedira scored a similar goal to his strike against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Having only scored two goals in their last seven Bundesliga matches, which all ended in defeats, St. Pauli continued to struggle in terms of creating chances. Frederik Rönnow’s first save of the game had to wait until the hour mark. Even then, the Danish goalkeeper was hardly troubled by Joel Chima Fujita and Hauke Wahl’s attempts.
They were unlucky when Pereira Lage’s shot from a difficult angle hit the post, though. Janik Haberer also had to make a goalline clearance to deny fellow substitute Danel Sinani from scoring an Olimpico.
Union Berlin climbed to eighth after the result that saw their unbeaten run extended to four games in all competitions. Thanks to starting the season with seven points from their first three matches, St. Pauli are still in the relegation/promotion playoff spot ahead of Mainz and Heidenheim. However, they broke an unwanted club record with eight straight defeats.
Before another game against Bayern in the cup, Union Berlin will host cellar-dwellers Heidenheim. Meanwhile, St. Pauli will face the league leaders at the Allianz Arena next weekend.
