Spectacle in the top game
St. Pauli survives wild peat festival in Kiel
February 23, 2024, 8:25 p.m
After 35 minutes, Holstein Kiel is actually already beaten in the top game of the 2nd Bundesliga: leaders St. Pauli are leading the second-placed team 3-0. But in the second half the storks hit back spectacularly, and in the end there was drama. Meanwhile, Paderborn is filming the game in Wiesbaden.
Holstein Kiel – FC St. Pauli 3:4 (0:3)
First mercilessly efficient, then with luck in the final spurt: FC St. Pauli won the top game of the 2nd Bundesliga and extended its lead in the table. At Holstein Kiel, the frontrunners won 4:3 (3:0), are now six points ahead of the second-placed North Germans and have their sights firmly set on promotion. The lead over city rivals Hamburger SV, which occupies the relegation place, is ten points.
Oladapo Afolayan (11th, 36th) and Marcel Hartel (34th) shocked the initially bold Kiel team with their goals. In particular, the double strike by Afolayan and Hartel within just under 90 seconds broke the rhythm of the hosts, who had already lost 5-1 in the first leg. After the break, Kiel turned up the heat: Shuto Machino (53′), Joshua Mees (65′) and Alexander Bernhardsson (82′) gave Holstein hope, Connor Metcalfe (57′) was successful for the guests.
In the duel between the first and the second, Kiel had the first big chance. However, Finn Porath (5th), who is celebrating his 27th birthday, missed from a good position, and a long-range shot from Machino (9th) also flew past the visitors’ goal. Coach Fabian Hürzeler’s team then showed how it could be done better. Afolayan was not disrupted in the penalty area and scored. Kiel, however, was not shocked and immediately pushed for an equalizer. The big problem was efficiency: First Steven Skrzybski (18th) was denied by Nikola Vasilj, then the goalkeeper parried a rebound from the inside post just in front of the line.
That took revenge: Hartel and once again the strong Afolayan extended the lead for the ripped-off guests. Kiel remained stubborn even after the break – and caused the guests a lot of trouble. Shortly before the end, Bernhardsson (89th) narrowly missed the equalizer, and St. Pauli hit the crossbar twice in stoppage time.
SV Wehen Wiesbaden – SC Paderborn 1:2 (1:1)
SC Paderborn has returned to the promotion race. After the heavy home defeat against Holstein Kiel (0:4), coach Lukas Kwasniok’s team won 2:1 (1:1) at promoted team SV Wehen Wiesbaden and jumped to fifth place, at least temporarily.
Franko Kovacevic put Wiesbaden in the lead (30th), then Paderborn turned the game around. Koen Kostons (39th) equalized before the break, Filip Bilbija scored in the final phase to win (82nd). Wiesbaden remained without a win for the fourth time in a row and has to look down. There is a risk of falling to 14th place in the table.