Stalemate in Kiel between Holstein and St. Pauli | OneFootball

FC St. Pauli made an hour-long trip north to Schleswig-Holstein, and the city of Kiel, for a friendly match with 2. Bundesliga side KSV Holstein Kiel at the Citti Fussball Park.

The visitors entered this match unbeaten in the Bundesliga through two matches, fifth and with a 1-1-0 record against the likes of Borussia Dortmund and newly-promoted rivals Hamburger SV. As for the hosts, their return to the 2. Bundesliga, after relegation from the top-flight last year, has been less than favourable, currently 1-0-3 with the lone win coming against SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

St. Pauli coach Alexander Blessin had quite a few changes to make, as six players are currently on international duty; only Adam Dźwigała, James Sands, and Mathias Pereira Lage returned from the derby victory against Hamburger SV - multiple players from the academy squads were selected. As for Kiel, only three players remained from their recent 1-2 defeat to Hannover 96, these being centre-back Carl Johansson, central midfielder Robert Wagner, and forward Phil Harres, who was placed in midfield for this match - the rest were reserve players or academy talents.

Both teams had a very difficult time entering the opposing penalty area in the first half-hour, as errant passes kept stalling momentum on both sides. However, the visitors would be first to strike in the fortieth minute, as a Martijn Kaars corner kick reached Erik Ahlstrand, who tapped the ball into the centre of the box with his left foot; Oladapo Afolayan was there to deflect the ball into the bottom-left corner, with a diving Timon Weiner a split-second too late to react.

Kaars would nearly double the lead for St. Pauli just before halftime, but was slightly offside at the moment Manolis Saliakas completed the setup pass. Kiel would ultimately equalise just ten minutes after the start of the second half, with Lasse Rosenboom the recipient of a Harres through ball; once he entered the right side of the St. Pauli penalty area, Rosenboom would pass to his left to Marcus Müller, and the latter would send a left-footed shot past Ben Alexander Voll, into the bottom-left corner.

Kiel would get the better chances in the final half-hour, especially as the match was nearing its end, but both sides could not fully take advantage of their goalscoring opportunities and walked out with a 1-1 draw.

Marcel Rapp, Kiel coach, said after the final whistle that his side “started well and conceded few chances, but then had too many easy turnovers for a while”; he was impressed with the second half performance, adding that “we were able to stop that in the second half and played better football overall”.

As for St. Pauli coach Alexander Blessin, he said about the result: “I thought the first half was really good, considering how we played forward and the movement we had - it looked really good".

He praised both James Sands and Marvin Schmitz for their performances: “You could see how important a central midfielder like James [Sands] is; he played well and Marvin [Schmitz] guided him to do so.”

Blessin also spoke about the second-half performance and how it compared to the first 45: “In the second half, we struggled, we chased the ball too much. We tried hard, but there was a bit of a lapse in the game. Overall, it was a good test match - everyone got playing time. The important thing is that no one got injured”.