St. Pauli stumbles in the final meters

Kaiserslautern start the new year with worries: The Red Devils lose the basement duel at Eintracht Braunschweig on the last second division matchday of 2023. Meanwhile, St. Pauli stumbled against a newly promoted team and did not end the winter at the top of the table. And Elversberg suffered their next defeat.

Eintracht Braunschweig - 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2:1 (1:1)

1. FC Kaiserslautern plunges even deeper into the relegation zone of the 2nd Bundesliga. FCK lost the basement duel at Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday with 1:2 (1:1) and, as 15th in the table, is one point ahead of the relegation place. Braunschweig spent the winter in a relegation spot, but moved to within four points of their opponents.

Kaiserslautern did not fire a shot at their opponents' goal in the first half - and yet it was 1:1 because Robin Krauße (14) prolonged an FCK free-kick from Tymoteusz Puchacz into his own goal. Rayan Philippe (36) equalized after a well-played counter-attack. Lautern completely missed the start of the second half and consequently conceded the second goal through Johan Gomez (62'). The supposed 2:2 by Ragnar Ache in stoppage time was rescinded due to an offside position.

For a long time, the groundbreaking relegation duel was characterized by great caution, uncertainty and restraint. After an energetic opening phase, both teams were more concerned with avoiding potentially decisive mistakes than taking risks themselves.

That changed in the second half, as Eintracht's position in the table forced them to attack. Gomez and Thorir Helgason missed the best opportunities at first, FCK started to lose momentum, but the good goalkeeper Julian Krahl saved the day. However, he was let down by the Braunschweig defense in the 2:1 victory.

Karlsruher SC - SV Elversberg 3:2 (2:1)

At the end of a strong first half of the season, promoted SV Elversberg ran out of steam. The Saarland side were beaten 2:3 (1:2) at Karlsruher SC on matchday 17 and conceded their third defeat in a row despite goals from Bayern loanee Paul Wanner (29) and Luca Schnellbacher (63).

As a result, Elversberg (24 points), who were unlucky with the aluminum twice, are nestled in no man's land in the table. The gap to the top and bottom relegation places is seven points each. KSC (21), on the other hand, celebrated their fifth win of the season thanks to goals from Dzenis Burnic (6th), Budu Siwsiwadse (16th) and Igor Matanovic (53rd) and gained some breathing space from the relegation zone.

In the first meeting between the two teams in German professional soccer, the visitors did not know what hit them. Karlsruhe got off to an extremely powerful start and were also outstandingly efficient in finishing. After the second goal, however, KSC slowed down a little - and were promptly punished by Wanner after the first fine Elversberg attack.

Immediately after the break, Elversberg were unlucky when Schnellbacher (47) only hit the crossbar. After just under an hour, however, the striker did better from distance and raised the promoted team's hopes of scoring again. However, the post prevented Wanner from equalizing (66').

FC St. Pauli - Wehen Wiesbaden 1:1 (0:0)

FC St. Pauli gambled away the autumn championship on the last few meters. The Hamburg side were held to a 1-1 (0-0) draw by promoted SV Wehen Wiesbaden at the end of the first half of the season and had to concede first place in the table to Holstein Kiel.

Marcel Hartel (47') scored his eighth goal of the season for St. Pauli, who were unable to crown a strong 2023 calendar year as John Iredale (84') equalized. Coach Fabian Hürzeler's side are now on 33 points, two points behind the surprise team from Kiel, who have won their last five games - most recently 3-0 against Hannover 96 on Saturday evening. Hamburger SV, who completed the North German festival in the first half of the season in the relegation places, are four points off the top of the table.

St. Pauli dominated the game at home to Millerntor in the first half, but lacked the necessary efficiency in finishing. Marcel Hartel and Elias Saad each had two good chances to score, but either Wehen keeper Florian Stritzel or their own inaccuracy prevented them from doing so.

Hartel then did better shortly after the restart. He calmly finished off an exemplary counter-attack to take a well-deserved lead. Hamburg were then lucky in the 81st minute: Iredale shot out of nowhere but only hit the underside of the crossbar after a counter-attack. A little later, he took better aim with his fine lob.