An early goal from Andreas ‘Lumpi’ Lambertz gave Dynamo Dresden their first 2. Bundesliga win of the season over a disappointing FC St. Pauli, who remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
An excellent cross from Nils Teixeira set up Lambertz for what turned out to be the only goal of the game, although they failed to make more of lacklustre defending from their opponents.
St. Pauli improved in the second half, and had a couple of penalty appeals turned down, but Ewald Lienen has work to do if his side aren’t to get left behind after three defeats in three.
St. Pauli looking to kick start their season
After finishing fourth last season, this one couldn’t have started much worse for St. Pauli. They were hard done by in their opening defeat to VfB Stuttgart, but were poor when losing to Eintracht Braunschweig. They at least had a morale-boosting 3-0 win over local rivals VfB Lübeck in the DFB-Pokal since then.
Four changes were made from the team that won in Lübeck, with Robin Himmelmann, Daniel Buballa and Bernd Nehrig all recalled, and Marc Hornschuh replaced the absent Vegar Eggen Hedenstad.
Dresden started life back in the 2. Bundesliga after two years away with two draws against 1. FC Nürnberg and 1. FC Union Berlin, and then they beat bitter Saxony rivals RB Leipzig on penalties in the DFB-Pokal.
The two-goal hero from that game, Stefan Kutschke, dropped out as Uwe Neuhaus reverted to the line-up that started in Berlin 13 days earlier, with first choice frontman Pascal Testroet recalled alongside Teixeira and Lambertz.
Lumpi gives Dresden perfect start
The first chance fell to Nehrig for St. Pauli, and if he wasn’t regretting putting it hopeless wide straight away then he was when Dresden took the lead. Teixeira on the right wing put in a perfect cross, which fell straight into the path of Lambertz to stab home for his second goal in as many league games.
St. Pauli almost got back into the game through an own goal. Christopher Buchtmann’s cross was sent towards goal off the foot off Marco Hartmann, but Marvin Schwäbe managed to get a hand to it. Then another Teixeira cross presented another chance for Dresden, but a poor first touch from Testroet was enough to send it wide.
St. Pauli were lacking in creativity with Aziz Bouhaddouz having to go wide in search of the ball. Nehrig did have an excellent chance though from outside the box, with Schwäbe helpless as it sailed just wide of the post.
They were also vulnerable to the counter, and Buballa was caught out of position, allowing Niklas Kreuzer this time to swing one in from the right, but Testroet couldn’t get enough of his head on it. And the half finished with Marvin Stefaniak and, from a free-kick, Buchtmann shooting well over the bar.
St. Pauli denied penalty shouts
Lienen responded to his side’s first half display with two half time changes, bring on Picault and Enver Cenk Sahin. They would help improve the side’s performance, but not before Stefaniak hit the side netting for Dresden.
The Freibeuter could then have had a penalty when Picault played in Bouhaddouz, and was then brought down as Jannik Müller stuck out a leg. Manuel Gräfe the referee refused to point to the spot. The forward also had a header saved by Schwäbe.
More appeals for a St. Pauli penalty came when a Bouhaddouz free kick may have gone off Kutschke’s elbow in the wall, but again Gräfe waved away the persistent protests.
Himmelmann keeps it at one
Having struggled to break down St. Pauli since half time, Dresden's best chance to extend their lead came with fifteen minutes to go.
A quick break caught out the visitors’ defence, with substitutes Niklas Hauptmann and Kutschke combining, Hauptmann played the ball to his left, with the striker in acres of space. He looked certain to score, but Himmelmann pulled out an excellent save to deny him.
St. Pauli were putting plenty of pressure on the Dresden defence in the latter stages, without creating any clear cut chances. In fact was it was Dresden who ended with a great chance for Kutschke, but again he was denied by Himmelmann.
But Dresden got the win and remain unbeaten going into the international break. St. Pauli on the other hand are rock bottom and in desperate need of a win in two weeks’ time against Arminia Bielefeld.