St. Pauli spoiled the party at Hannover 96 in Friday's matchday 7 opener, ending the hosts hopes of moving up to second in the table with a 1-0 victory.
The win moves the promoted Hamburg team, who have earned nine of their ten points to date away from home, into the top third of the table ahead of the main weekend programme.
Early shock for hosts
Hannover were clearly keen to stamp their authority on the contest from the off, but they were instead caught cold in the sixth minute. Bastian Oczipka played a one-two with Fabian Boll before firing in a cross from the left which Marius Ebbers powered home with a header off the inside of the post. It was a salient early reminder of just how effective St. Pauli have been on the road so far this season.
In the absence of top scorer Didier Ya Konan, 96ers coach Mirko Slomka had altered his starting formation, with Mohammed Abdellaoue the sole striker and Lars Stindl in a forward midfield role. The home team enjoyed the bulk of the possession as the first half unfolded, but they were making real headway against the well-disciplined guests.
No way through
St. Pauli in fact looked at least as likely to grab another in one of their occasional breakaways. Matthias Lehmann tried his luck from distance in the 39th minute and Florian Fromlowitz needed two attempts to hold onto Fin Bartels' effort on the rebound. Hannover's best attempt came from a free kick right at the end of the half, Sergio Pinto bending the ball just wide of the far post.
Into the second half and the game continued in much the same pattern. Hannover had a shout for penalty waved away in the 58th minute when Kessler fumbled a ball in from the left and Abdellaoue went down in the box under a challenge from Carlos Zambrano.
Chances at either end
Six minutes on from that, St. Pauli passed up a great opportunity to give themselves a two-goal cushion when Max Kruse's lay-off from a Rowen Hennings cross fell just out of reach of the onrushing Ebbers. The action then swuing back to the other end, Kessler doing well to push an Abdellaoue header to the side and Hannover unable to capitalise on the confusion that followed.
With ten minutes of the match remaining, Lehmann burst clean through on the edge of the box only to be hauled back by Karim Haggui, earning the home defender a straight red card. A man down, the Reds persevered gamely in the closing stages, but St. Pauli held firm and with fresh forwards on the prowl remained a threat themselves on the break right through to the finish.
Line-ups
Hannover: Fromlowitz � Cherundolo, Haggui, Pogatetz (Forssell 59'), C. Schulz � Schmiedebach, Pinto � Stoppelkamp (Hanke 86'), Stindl (Djakpa 78'), Rausch - Abdellaoue
St. Pauli: Kessler � Lechner, Zambrano, Thorandt, Oczipka � M. Lehmann, Boll � M. Kruse (Naki 75'), Hennings (Asamoah 66'), Bartels � Ebbers (Takyi 78')
Goal: 0-1 Ebbers (6')
Red card: Karim Haggui (80')
Attendance in the AWD Arena: 49,000
Information provided by the official Bundasliga website.
Report taking in full from the official Bundasliga website.
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