FC St. Pauli beat Dynamo Dresden 3-0 to make it two wins from three under Markus Kauczinski, moving them up to eighth in the 2. Bundesliga table.
Waldemar Sobota ran the show, with his side leading for most of the match following his clever volley inside the first eight minutes. A devastating counter attack leading to the second midway through the second half, set up by Sobota but scored by substitute Richard Neudecker.
Sobota added his second and his side’s third in the final ten minutes, although Lucas Röser did pull one back for the hosts in the closing minutes.
Sobota gives St. Pauli an early lead
Dresden handed a second debut to the returning Marcel Franke, who came into the side as one of six changes from their 2-0 defeat to MSV Duisburg at the end of last year. Another of the changes saw the injured Marvin Schwäbe replaced by Markus Schubert for his first league since the club were in the 3. Liga. St. Pauli announced the signing of Dimitrios Diamantakos before kick-off, but he was not involved here. Jeremy Dudziak, Bernd Nehrig and Aziz Bouhaddouz were recalled to the side that beat VfL Bochum last time out.
St. Pauli had the perfect start as Sobota put them ahead in just the eighth minute. The move started from his throw-in, with Nehrig finding Luca Zander. His cross proved to be perfectly placed – although it missed everyone in the box, Sobota was able to run onto it on the far side, and he had plenty of space to place it with a low side-footed volley past Schubert, who was unable to reach it.
They remained threatening in the minutes after the goal as well. Nehrig was given the freedom to charge through the middle of the park, before his shot was put wide by Schubert. A corner from Cenk Sahin was then headed on by Nehrig to Christopher Avevor, but his header was saved again by Schubert, the 19-year-old unfazed by conceding so early in his first league start for two years.
Manuel Konrad would then have a crack from outside the box – it was a wild shot but it did threaten to curl towards goal as it went wide. He came closer a little later on though, after Nehrig had given the ball away, which the ball passing just shy of the post. That was part of a good spell for the hosts around the half-hour mark, with a Paul Seguin shot then put over the bar by Robin Himmelmann.
Röser consolation comes too late for hosts
Neither side came close to making a breakthrough either side of the break, leaving the game at something of an impasse. Konrad did have another go from distance soon after the restart, getting it on target this time only for Himmelmann to claim the ball with relative ease.
Dresden could then have had a penalty, when a Haris Duljevic shot was blocked by Zander, whose body twisted towards the ball before it hit his arm. Deniz Aytekin was not interested in pointing to the spot. Rico Benatelli came close meanwhile, only to see hit shot blocked by Lasse Sobiech.
It felt as though Dresden were marginally in the ascendancy, but from a corner for the hosts, St. Pauli countered and scored the second. Zander was the instigator, before Bouhaddoz fed Sobota who was lurking on the right. His cross then found Neudecker, who had come on just four minutes earlier, and he struck into the back of the net.
It would get even better for them ten minutes later. A mistake on the by-line allowed Sobota to snatch the ball. He ran across the edge of the box to find his spot before taking aim and capping off a fine performance with a second goal for himself to make it 3-0.
Dresden did go down fighting though. Himmelmann denied shots from Röser and Erich Berko, before the former denied the St. Pauli keeper his clean sheet. Duljevic and Philip Heise combined on the left, with Heise crossing from a tight angle and Röser getting the slightest of touches to beat Himmelmann at his near post. It was too little, too late for his side though, even if Himmelmann had one more save to make, from Peniel Mlapa, moments before the final whistle went.