Despite doing their utmost to find a way through against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, FC St. Pauli drew 0-0 as their bid to get out of the relegation zone was done no favours.

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Desperate to get even a point on the board, Ewald Lienen made three changes to the side which lost 2-0 at 1. FC Heidenheim last weekend. Enver Cenk Sahin, Waldemar Sobota and Kyoung-Rok Choi came in for Christopher Buchtmann, Daniel Buballa and Ryo Miyaichi.

As for the vastly improved Kaiserslautern, Tayfun Korkut named the same starting XI that drew in a nil-nil stalemate with Karlsruher SC.

Stieber sends penalty wide in entertaining first half

St. Pauli started well. It was cold in Hamburg but the atmosphere was rocking, as it normally is at the Millerntor. The hosts looked more like the side that finished fourth last season as they went hammer and tong at Kaiserlsautern from the opening minutes, with Richard Neudecker firing a superb effort just wide from 25 yards.

Lienen's side came back at it moments later, and a Lasse Sobiech header looped onto the crossbar after an angled cross from Waldemar Sobota. A similar chance was converted by Aziz Bouhaddouz, as he connected with a similar header after a great ball from Choi. Unfortunately for the Moroccan forward, his goal was ruled out for offside.

Then the game turned on its head. A great pass into the channel found Marcel Gaus storming down the left wing, he reached the box before being brought down by Sören Gonther. He felt he got a touch on the ball, but greater concern followed when Robin Himmelmann limped off. Thankfully for Philipp Heerwagen, Zoltan Stieber shot wide.

The final stages of the half saw Julian Pollersbeck defend his goal admirably, with an excellent stop from Bernd Nehrig's header the highlight of his first period.

Despite their best efforts, St. Pauli can't find a winner

Daniel Halfar was brought on at the break for Naser Aliji in a bid to gain some more possession in the half of the pitch that mattered, but St. Pauli were the side that had the early chance to take the lead. Cenk Sahin's cross found Bouhaddouz, but his shot was blocked onto the post before Robin Koch hacked the ball clear before Sobota pounced.

After that things began to slow down, as the game became more attritional and broke down into a battle of wits which neither side looked capable of breaking out of. Kaiserslautern were out of ideas, and it was no surprise when the game ended goalless. St. Pauli are now four points from safety, while FCK are comfortably mid-table.

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Jonathan Walsh
SoccerSight IFA commentator. VAVEL deputy editor-in-chief/VAVEL Bundesliga editor-in-chief and writer. Email: [email protected]