A typically fiery 2. Bundesliga encounter between FC St. Pauli and Dynamo Dresden ended all square, despite Christopher Buchtmann scoring two superb goals for the hosts.
The first, after Dresden had the better of the opening stages of the match, was cancelled out by Marco Hartmann.
Buchtmann scored again in the second half, however a mistake from Robin Himmelmann allowed Lucas Röser to score a second goal in two games to earn Dresden a point.
Dresden bounce back after Buchtmann scores against run of play
These two sides both won their opening matches 1-0, with St. Pauli winning at VfL Bochum and Dresden beating MSV Duisburg thanks to Röser’s late goal, which earned him a start here with Pascal Testroet out injured for the foreseeable future. Hartmann also came in for Andreas Lambertz, whilst Jeremy Dudziak was recalled at the expense of Jan-Philipp Kalla by St. Pauli.
The away started the better of the two sides in the midst of an unsettled start to the game. St. Pauli seemed to be playing in a lower gear, but Dresden couldn’t quite worry goalkeeper Robin Himmelmann. Hartmannn fired on over early on, whilst two dangerous Erich Berko crosses didn’t quite find their targets – one went too high, the other dealt with by Buchtmann behind Berko’s likely target Röser.
St. Pauli hadn’t been lifeless but it was very much against the run of play when they scored. From the centre of the Dresden half, Bernd Nehrig picked out a pass to midfield partner Buchtmann on his left. Buchtmann cut inside, came into the box, and fired a cracking strike through the defence and post goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe, going in at the far right hand post.
A move orchestrated by Mats Moller Daehli a few minutes later nearly produced a second for the hosts, however Dresden remained a threat and got the goal their early pressure had deserved. Dresden new boy Rico Benatelli latched onto a Lasse Sobiech header in the box, moved into space on the right, picking out an unmarked Hartmann in the centre of the box, with the skipper doing the rest.
St. Pauli had a couple of further chances before the break, with Daehli cutting in left and hitting the side netting, before Waldemar Sobota attempted chip was deflected wide of goal. The final action of the half saw Röser denied by Himmelmann, who stayed big, at the other end.
St. Pauli again caught out by quick Dresden response
The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, both sides having ultimately unsuccessful spells on the ball, with St. Pauli just having the edge. A good ball to Aziz Bouhaddouz presented a good chance, but he was denied by former team mate Sören Gonther (given a formal Millerntor farewell before kick-off), with an attack from Daehli then coming up short. Berko set up Hartmann for a chance shortly after, but he put it wide as he slid in.
The best chances thus far in the second 45 would fall to Daehli on the hour-mark. Jumping on a poor ball forward from Benatelli, he outran everyone to get himself into a good position, but Schwäbe kept out his shot with a good save. A few minutes later another chance for the Norwegian youngster came on the right hand side, but Schwäbe again sent it wide.
St. Pauli were definitely on top by this stage, but they were otherwise lacking a final ball. That was until Buchtmann did it again. A diagonal ball found Dudziak, who back-tracked before laying it off to Buchtmann. He drove it hard from the edge of the box, with Schwäbe completely caught out, only able to flap a hand at the ball as it flew in.
Sami Allagui thought he had put the game to bed just a couple of minutes later, with a neat effort chalked off very late by the assistant referee’s flag for offside. In the space of a couple of minutes therefore it went from nearly 3-1 to 2-2 as Dresden levelled again. The usually-reliable Himmelmann spilled a low shot from outside the box by Philip Heise, and Röser was there to pounce and score his second Dresden goal.
Both sides were determined not to settle for a point, but neither quite had enough to change the outcome of the evening. Dresden perhaps posed the bigger threat in the final 15 minutes, with a threatening run from Berko and dangerous Heise and Fabian Müller crosses, but from none of those could they fashion a shot. A fair result in the end, but St. Pauli will be disappointed at twice letting slip leads.