Match Report: St Pauli (H)

Pre-match: Back home

My word. A warm Friday night at the end of August. First home game of the season. Against St Pauli.

This was always going to be a cracker.

On the back of a battling draw against Mainz, Union faced newly promoted FC St Pauli in the Bundesliga in a game that a few years ago would have seemed unlikely.

We were all excited for this one. Almost all of the UBI crew managed to get tickets through one channel or another, and a couple of cold beers and catching up in the warm summer evening sun set the tone perfectly. A perfect evening for football.

We found a new, expanded spot in Sektor 3 and started to soak up the atmosphere. What a joy it is to feel this football club. To be there as the crowd bubbles up from a mess to a mass. What a way to spend an evening.

The Unioner were up for this, and so too were the visitors from Hamburg, bouncing in the Gästeblock from early on, bringing energy and noise. But in fairness the AF was so loud that they were drowned out all night.

The Alte Försterei is always a cauldron. It's always noisy. But tonight was a bit special, a blend of ingredients in time, weather and opponent forming a potent mix in the stadium. It's only been a couple of months since the heart-stopping last day drama, but we all missed it.

Pre-match was a turbo version of the usual, each player greeted by throaty roars and a hearty applause for the visiting team harking back to the benefit match in 2004 which helped cement Union's status as a going concern.

There had been some unpleasant murmurs before the game, a rather blunt message to the visitors daubed all over Köpenick S-Bahn, but it seemed cordial enough in the ground. Deadline-day-signed striker Andrej Ilic was introduced, sitting and watching from Sektor 1, Christian Arbeit helpfully clarifying that we had signed the young guy who looked like a footballer, not the middle aged man proudly showing the camera his three beers. Hopefully he can do a job for us, and if not beer man may be worth a go.

But after the pre-match ceremonies and a big, pyro-laden tifo from the Waldseite, it came down to a straight fight for three points between two of the league's less-fancied teams.

First half: Slow, slow, fast

The team was missing Gosens, announced shortly before kick off that he prefers the cafes and galleries of Florence to a bracing dip in the Müggelsee and is off on loan. Young Tom Rothe started at left wing back instead.

Up front was the trio of Vertessen, Siebatcheu and Hollerbach giving a blend of pace and power.

The game kicked off with St Pauli dominating the ball, with lots of pretty but ponderous interplay not leading to much. Union, as usual, were happy to let the opponents have the ball and trust the defence.

Union really couldn't get going for the first part of the half. We played out from the back but just couldn't string a pass through Pauli's midfield, eventually resorting to lumping it long for the little men to scamper after or the big man to fight for.

The worrying thing was that Pauli weren't even really pressing us, they just sat in their shape and we couldn't get past. Playing Khedira and Tousart as the central midfield pairing was never likely to produce champagne football.

On the other hand though, Freddie was untroubled by anything that came into the box. The defence looked very solid - a moment of lunacy where we just collectively decided to give Pauli the ball in the box aside - while the exotic fullback pairing of Rothe and Haberer seemed very comfortable too.

I was sorry to see Gosens go but Rothe looks more than capable of stepping in. He's quick, tall, seems to have a sweet left foot and even did some defending, which was seldom his predecessor's preferred option.

Union grew into the half, finally starting to connect with passes and get in down the flanks with pace and energy.

I like the combination of Jordan Siebatcheu, Hollerbach and Vertessen up top, and Jordan started playing an exemplary target man role as the game progressed. He caused a lot of trouble with excellent control of long balls and several times was able to turn and drive towards goal, one driving run leading to a scuffed shot which drew pained yelps from the stands.

Having weathered Pauli's, well not exactly storm but more like breeze, Union began to take the upper hand. What was a slow game for half an hour burst into life suddenly.

Vertessen battered a shot over the bar and Jordan had a golden chance, a corner recycled to the right and the cross finding the striker unmarked, dead centre of the box. He rose to meet it and it looked a certain goal, but the header looped tamely into the keeper's arms.

We didn't have to wait too long for the lead though. In the early stages of the game I said to a fellow UBIer that our attacking plan seemed to be get it forward and hope Hollerbach hit a worldie.

This is basically what happened.

After some good pressure down the left, the ball went in, ping ponged around the box and then broke to the curly-haired thunderbastard-merchant, who duly twatted it through a crowd and in. Speaking of crowds, it went wild, many a shiny Berlin-logo shirt receiving an inaugural beer soaking.

I don't think it was the cleanest volley he'll ever hit, but it did the job and we had a deserved lead.

It should have been two moments later, Jordan suddenly through on goal. I didn't see exactly what happened because I'm really far too short for football-watching purposes, but somehow instead of the net rippling it was out for a goal kick.

Tousart also had a couple of efforts, one before the goal which he didn't connect properly with.

The first half ended but you couldn't tell because the Waldseite just carried on singing at full volume.

Second Half: Pretty sure it was fine

Half time consensus was that we deserved the lead, and the second half started in a similar vein, Pauli looking disheartened and short in ideas.

I'm going to be totally honest, I was several beers deep by the second half. The new beer cups with handles make it really easy to carry a frightening quantity of alcohol and we did just that. So details are from this point quite hazy. To save us all time, here is a summary of things I remember:

• We were extremely comfortable for the first 15 minutes and possibly should have scored

• The game got stopped after the Waldseite let off smoke bombs. When it restarted, the visibility was if anything worse than when it got stopped.

• Hungary and Slovakia power duo Schäfer and Benes came on

• We started sitting really deep but Pauli still didn't do much

• Until they sent on a guy whose name I think was Saad, He caused all kinds of problems

• 18th Century aristocrat Leopold Querfeld came on along with the new Korean loanee Jeong, and they both got booked almost immediately. Querfeld may have got booked without ever touching the ball, respect.

• They almost scored with the last kick of the game but Freddie had it covered

• We celebrated the ending a bit too heartily and several beers were sadly lost in the melee

Overall, a wholly satisfactory evening that many of us carried on into the early hours of Saturday in the Abseitsfalle carpark-slash-biergarten. There's an outside chance one or two are still there at time of writing on Saturday lunchtime, in case anyone is missing.

The new era of Bo Svensson looks a lot like the old era of however many managers we had last season, but this was a fairly comfortable win and a higher margin would not have flattered us. If we can keep the defence solid like today and integrate a few options in attack, I feel we have a solid team across the board. We're probably going to be overrun in midfield playing just 2 in the centre, but we do at least have a threat up front and three strong centre backs. And Freddie.

But such detailed tactical insight can wait. What's important is that football is back at the Alte Försterei. Where we come to sing, shout, laugh and will this team over the line in every game. Last night was a bit extra special, but it's always a thrill to be here.

No better way to spend a Friday evening and a small part of Saturday.

Eisern!

--

by @Union_Berliner