Kult & Punk: Mainz Ze gap -St Pauli lose again.

The highlight of the day, was the drunk St Nick and the incident with the Sushi Bar Girls, but that is for a completely different blog. The boys made it to the game, but are still out, so report courtesy of the official bundesliga site. The guys will be gracing us with their presence, when they add ink to their imagination, for a review after Christmas and hopefully before the New Year. We wait and see, but they do send you season greetings and hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

FC St Pauli   2   FSV Mainz 4

Hamburg - 1. FSV Mainz 05 rounded off a hugely successful first half of the season with an impressive 4-2 win away to FC St. Pauli.


An Andre Schürrle double had put the visitors firmly in the driving seat within the opening half hour, though a brace from Pauli midfielder Matthias Lehmann either side of Adam Szalai's third for Mainz had set up an interesting final period. However, a fine fourth from Marco Caligiuri eventually made absolutely sure of the three points for the 05ers, who move into second pending Bayer Leverkusen's result against SC Freiburg on Sunday.

Schürrle strikes

Backed by the ever-reliable Millerntor support, St. Pauli immediately tried to put their guests under pressure and managed a first shot on goal after just four minutes when Marius Ebbers' powerful bobbling strike gave Heinz Müller a fright in the Mainz goal. Nevertheless, the opening goal came courtesy of the visitors, Schürrle finish a nice move with a simple tap-in from Szalai's centre.

Inspired by their lead, Thomas Tuchel's side began to remind the 24,000-strong crowd just why they remain among the leading pack in this season's Bundesliga. Schürrle added his and Mainz's second on 28 minutes, turning in a scuffed Malik Fathi effort from close range after being played onside by Fabio Morena.

Lehmann responds

St. Pauli were handed a way back into the match four minutes later when Elkin Soto handled in the box, giving Lehmann the opportunity to fire down the centre and reduce the deficit to one goal. Mainz soon restored their advantage, however, Szalai finishing off Christian Fuchs' searching diagonal ball with a measured volley past Mathias Hain for his fourth of the season.

Holger Stanislawski had clearly uttered some harsh words at the break as St. Pauli re-emerged from the tunnel fighting. Max Kruse wasn't far away on 53 minutes when his sweeping left-foot strike narrowly missed the right-hand upright with Müller flailing. The hosts did manage to pull another one back ten minutes later though, Lehmann's fearsome strike taking a wicked deflection off of Nikolce Noveski and looping over Müller and into the net.

Caligiuri settles it

Sensing a point was still in the air, the Kiezkicker twice threatened Müller's goal with strikes from Timo Schultz and particularly Lehmann, though it was Mainz who went closest to scoring the game's next goal as Szalai fired into the side netting after popping up free at the far post from a Soto free-kick.

The Hungarian frontman was denied another chance by a superb Ralph Gunesch challenge late on, but ultimately it was irrelevant as Caligiuri crashed in an excellent strike from the right side of the box after being spotted by substitute Sami Allagui from the left. St. Pauli thus remain just two points above the relegation places, while Mainz can raise a Christmas glass to fantastic opening 17 games.

Pauli: Hain - Rothenbach, Morena, Gunesch, Oczipka - Boll (Bruns 57'), Lehmann - Asamoah, Kruse (Takyi 57') - Hennings (Schultz 57'), Ebbers

Mainz: Müller - Zabavnik, Bungert, Noveski, C. Fuchs - Soto (Polanski 81') - M. Caligiuri, Fathi - Holtby (Allagui 65') - Szalai, Schürrle (90+2')

Goals: 0-1 Schürrle (11'), 0-2 Schürrle (28'), 1-2 Lehmann (pen 33'), 1-3 Szalai (41'), 2-3 Lehmann (63'), 2-4 Caligiuri (83')

Attendance at the Millerntor: ca. 24,000