St Pauli finished pre season unbeaten against TSV Uetersen 6:0, the highlight of their pre season was the 1:0 win against Scottish Giants Celtic or the 16:1 victory against TuS Holstein Quickborn.
It was also an unbeaten pre season for FC Ingolstadt, winning five and drawing three games against Red Bull Salzburg and Viktoria Plzen. The highlight of their pre season was the win over recently promoted FC Köln 2:0.
A win from either would’ve meant they’d get the early advantage in the 2. Bundesliga table with Braunschweig - Düsseldorf, Red Bull Leipzig - Aalen and Bochum - Greuther Furth all ending is draws.
Just one minute into the game St Pauli attacked, an opportunity for Sebastian Schachten arose, but his header missed the target. Five minutes later, a long-range shot from Bentley Bahn came in, but like his team-mate, it went off target. After brief St Pauli pressure, Ingolstadt had chances, firstly from Lukas Hinterseer; his shot from distance was no threat to Philipp Tschauner's goal. On the twenty-minute mark, Ingolstadt had a penalty shout turned town by referee Marco Fritz following a header that appeared to hit the arm of Lasse Sobiech: however it would’ve been a cheap penalty to concede. Philipp Tschauner then remarkably kept out a header from Alfredo Morales, diving to his left and from the resulting rebound Lukas Hinterseer blasted his shot into the side netting.
Lukas Hinterseer once again put St Pauli defence under pressure but his header from Alfredo Morales cross but the attempt failed to trouble keeper Philipp Tschauner. After more heavy Ingolstadt pressure, the breakthrough finally came through Alfredo Morales, his glancing header from a Matthew Leckie in-swinging costless kick left Tschauner stranded. Moritz Hartmann cut inside onto his rocket of a right foot, he hit the post with a brilliant long-range shot – Hinterseer’s follow up wide of the mark as he couldn’t quite adjust his feet.
Half Time: St Pauli 0-1 FC Ingolstadt 04: as it stood, Ingolstadt were top of the league following Braunschweig’s draw last night, Leipzig 0-0 against VfR Aalen and Bochum vs. Greuther Fürth’s 1-1 scoreline at half time.
After hlaf-time, Ingolstadt's pressure continued. Hartmann’s shot from range sailed off target, moments later, Philipp Tschauner parried a shot at goal from Alfredo Morales to keep the score down to 1-0. St Pauli pushed for the equaliser; Christopher Nöthe headed straight into the hands of Ramazan Özcan from Christopher Buchtmann corner.
With just under thirteen minutes left St Pauli equalised through Sören Gonther, who emphatically finished into the top corner from Lennart Thy’s left footed cross. With just eight minutes remaining, Pascal Groß's corner from the right was met by Benjamin Hübner but his header went off target. Thy then had two chances to wrap up the three points in St Pauli’s season opener, but he wasted his shots. His long range shot in stoppage time sailed over the bar.
Full-time at the Millerntor-Stadion: St Pauli 1:1 FC Ingolstadt; Gonther saved St Pauli a point after Morales gave Ingolstadt the lead that lasted just under an hour.