2nd league
Eight goals in Düsseldorf – St. Pauli remains undefeated
Fortuna Düsseldorf won the high-scoring West duel against FC Schalke 04. photo
© Roland Weihrauch/dpa
FC St. Pauli is eager for the city derby against HSV. The neighborhood club continues to storm towards the Bundesliga undefeated. A newcomer is causing a stir. Eight goals were scored in the evening game.
This means Schalke remains in 16th place, while Fortuna improved to third place in the table, at least for one night. In front of 52,000 spectators in the sold-out Düsseldorf Arena, Vincent Vermeij (13th/26th minute), Felix Klaus (19th), Christos Tzolis (65th) and Jona Niemiec (90th + 4) scored the goals for the hosts, Schalke Marcin Kaminski (57th), Tomas Kalas (74th) and Bryan Lasme (75th) met.
Pauli consolidates first place
FC St. Pauli has warmed up for the Hamburg city derby and remains the measure of all things in the 2nd league. On Saturday, coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team, which was still undefeated this season, saved 3:2 (3:1) at Hansa Rostock. The leaders initially did not let themselves be deterred by the 0-1 deficit after Junior Brumado converted a hand penalty (9th minute). Within eight minutes, St. Pauli turned the game around before the break. With another penalty converted by Brumado (80th), Rostock came close again and put the leaders under pressure, but were unable to equalize.
Manolis Saliakas (15th), Marcel Hartel (18th) and Oladapo Afolayan (23rd) scored the goals for Hamburg, who are now looking forward to Friday’s derby against city rivals Hamburger SV. After 14 match days, St. Pauli is three points ahead of HSV with 30 points.
Newcomers continue to be strong
Newcomer SV Elversberg continues to cause a stir and is involved in the promotion race after the 4:1 (1:1) win against SC Paderborn. Coach Horst Steffen’s team really turned up the heat after Luca Schnellbacher made it 2-1 shortly after the break (50′) and went on a counter-attack frenzy. Paul Stock (57th) and Maurice Neubauer (60th) made consistent use of the space that was now available. During the first break, Schnellbacher equalized the visitors’ lead by Sebastians Klaas (22′) with his first goal of the day (41′). Elversberg is three points behind HSV.
At the bottom of the table, coach Tobias Schweinsteiger’s leave of absence from bottom club VfL Osnabrück did not prove to be the relief he had hoped for. Lower Saxony also lost under interim coach Martin Heck – this time 0-2 (0-0) against 1. FC Magdeburg. Baris Atik (52nd) and Luca Schuler (71st) scored for the guests. With only seven points so far, Osnabrück is increasingly losing sight of the non-relegation zone.