Kult & Punk: St Pauli crucial win keeps them in touch with leaders.

Thanks to Jonathan who filled in for the boys, while they over did the festivities. One dressed as a Nun the other Roger Rabbit - absolutely no idea. Thanks to Kult and Punk for 2011 already looking forward to 2012, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year. Season greetings to the Players, officials and supporters of FC.St Pauli from all here at Sports Pulse.

FC St. Pauli consigned Eintracht Frankfurt to only their second defeat of the campaign with a deserved 2-0 win that took them to fourth in the table, level with their visitors on 39 points and only three behind league leaders Fortuna Düsseldorf.

The final Bundesliga 2 game before the winter break provided an entertaining spectacle for the fans at the sold-out Millerntor-Stadion, who saw goals from Fabio Morena and Max Kruse lead the hosts to victory over a fellow promotion favourite.

Entertaining start

Both teams began energetically, determined to finish the year on a high note, and it made for a lively encounter, as the play switched from end to end. The visitors marginally edged the opening period and almost took the lead after Karim Matmour's through ball allowed Alex Maier to run in on goal, but the striker's shot from a tight angle was well saved by Philipp Tschauner.

The hosts' reply came only moments later and Fin Bartels should have done better than to skew the ball over the bar after excellent work on the right from Florian Bruns had found him unmarked in the box. Frankfurt had the next opportunity of a frenzied beginning, when Gordon Schildenfeld flicked Pirmin Schwegler's whipped free-kick goalwards, but Tschauner once again reacted well to save.

Pauli go in front

However, it was Pauli, buoyed by their vocal home support, who took the lead just after half an hour. Frankfurt failed to deal with a corner from the right, and Morena was on hand to prod the ball in from close range after visiting keeper Oka Nikolov had parried Sebastian Schachten's shot. Frankfurt pushed for an equaliser, but were unable to find a breakthrough before half time.

The match began in the same fashion after the restart, and Pauli broke following a series of Frankfurt corners, going close through Fabian Boll after a mistake from Anderson in the Frankfurt defence. At the other end, Mo Idrissou tested Tschauner with a snap-shot from the edge of the box, which the unsighted keeper did well to save.

Kruse seals the win

That strike initiated an intense period of pressure from the guests, who created several half chances, which neither Idrissou nor Theofanis Gekas were able to make the most of. With the hosts struggling to get beyond the halfway line, their second goal came totally against the run of play. Frankfurt had committed men forward for another corner when Bartels broke down the right, running the length of the pitch before crossing for Kruse to stroke past the helpless Nikolov.

Frankfurt continued to push for a goal, but they were lacking the necessary creativity to unlock the well-organised home defence. The guests pumped high balls forward, looking to exploit the aerial ability of Idrissou, but the forward was well marshaled by Morena, while shots from distance were rarely accurate enough to trouble Tschauner. Indeed, Pauli looked the most likely to score again and constantly looked threatening on the break, but neither side found the net again.


Jonathan Stockitt