Kult & Punk: St Pauli smell defeat again as Raul finds his nose for goal.

Kult & Punk had plenty of time to drown their sorrows, as the boys from St Pauli beaten at Schalke. Still always next week.

Schalke 04  3  FC St Pauli 0

FC Schalke 04 finally hauled themselves out of the relegation zone on Friday evening with a 1-0 victory - their first at home this season - against FC St. Pauli.


Raul's brace either side of a Jan-Klaas Huntelaar header secured the points for Felix Magath's charges, who never looked in danger of relinquishing their lead despite some promising passages of play by the visitors in the first half. The Knappen will have been delighted to see their choice frontmen on target once again, Raul netting his first league goals since Matchday 6.

Raul finds his nose for goal

Though it was the Kiezkicker who looked the spritelier in the early stages, a wonderful flowing move culminated in a 13th-minute lead for the hosts. Jefferson Farfan spotted Atsuto Uchida's overlapping run on the right, supplying the Japanese international to cross low into the box. Huntelaar failed to connect, but the on rushing Raul arrived to slide home in classic style.

The Spanish legend had a chance to double the lead ten minutes later but screwed wide after his exquisite pass had sent Farfan charging down the right. St Pauli continued to produce promising football, however, and had Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer scrambling when Deniz Naki headed narrowly wide from Bastian Oczipka's whipped cross. Jose Manuel Jurado tested Thomas Kessler with a decent strike as Schalke broke, before Naki wasted a gilt-edged opportunity to equalise at the other end, slicing wide in space after Max Kruse had plucked the ball from the air.

Huntelaar puts Schalke on course

First-half substitute Dennis Daube went agonisingly close with his curling free-kick minutes before the interval, but the hosts all but killed off the game nine minutes after the restart as Huntelaar arrived to steer Farfan's outswinging corner into the net with a true centre-forward's header.

The visitors seemed to lose their early verve as the match progressed, creating no further chances of note and having Oczipka to thank for reacting to stop Huntelaar after the Dutch goalgetter was picked out free in the box by Raul. That let-off was only a temporary reprieve, however, as Raul netted one of the simplest goals of his long career to make it three, rolling into the empty net after Lukas Schmitz had forced his way through on the left.

Huntelaar was denied his second of the game by Kessler after being sent clean through with five minutes remaining, but the damage had already been done and Schalke recorded their first win at the Imtech Arena in 202 days. The Royal Blues move out of the relegation zone for the time being, St. Pauli find themselves slipping ever closer to it following their fourth defeat on the bounce.

Schalke Neuer - Uchida, Höwedes, Metzelder, Schmitz - Jones (Matip 80') - Farfan, Moritz (Kluge 71') - Jurado (Edu 46') - Huntelaar, Raul

Pauli: Kessler - Volz, Zambrano, Thorandt, Oczipka - Boll (Daube 42'), Lehmann - Bartels, Kruse (Hennings 72') - Ebbers, Naki (Bruns 72')

Goals: 1-0 Raul (14'), 2-0 Huntelaar (54'), 3-0 Raul (81')

Attendance at the Imtech Arena: ca. 61,000