SVE streak comes to an end in front of a home crowd

SVE Elversberg could not win through against a strong St. Pauli side – but there is more to the story.

Despite an exhausting 2:1 in extra time against Schalke 04 in the DFB Cup, St. Pauli showed no signs of wear on Friday as they gained a 2:0 win over SV Elversberg. Johannes Eggestein (16th minute) and Marcel Hartel (31st) secured the away victory with their sixth goal of the season for each. SV Elversberg simply had few opportunities to seize. Nevertheless, the host coach Fabian Hürzeler had praise to offer: ‘They play genuinely great, clean football, are very flexible, and consistently appear in the gaps.’ Horst Steffen also drew a sober conclusion: ‘It was difficult for us. We mostly failed to reach the end third, St. Pauli defended it well. We also knew that it was difficult, that our pressing would sometimes be outplayed, and that we would then have gaps to defend that our opponents could put to good use.’ The football coach was a little disappointed with the goal conceded after a set piece, but then put things into perspective: ‘Ending up a goal down after a set piece is of course silly, we can defend that better. But ultimately, we must ungrudgingly admit that today, our opponents were better than we were. They played very well, there was no trace of their previous cup game. They were very strong and enthusiastic, playing intelligently with secure ball control. There will be other opponents against whom we can do more.’ St. Pauli remain at the top of the table, with 26 points after 12 days of play. SVE, who have suffered their first defeat in seven games, sit in the middle of the table with 18 points.

SV Elversberg have an away game against Schalke on Friday for the 13th day of play.